A Postlude to Reconciliation
by Rob Sears
Summary: It has been a year and a half since the end of the war with the Reapers. While Shepard merely wants to remain at home with Tali and live a normal life, forces working behind the scenes have drawn him into his previous life once again. Weary and tired of battle, Shepard calls his crew back together to complete one final mission...
1. Prologue: Cut Off One Head

_The worst thing in this world, next to anarchy, is government._

-Henry Ward Beecher

* * *

The Cradle: Location Unknown

Fingers tapped expectantly on the shiny desk. The female salarian frowned in the dark environment as she huffed out loud to herself. The meeting was not scheduled to start for at least five more minutes but she despised the fact that time was being wasted right in front of her. She was not accustomed to dealing with…_brutes_ such as these, but one had to make amends from time to time.

She just wondered if she had made the right choice. This was not a decision she could willingly back down from.

The female wished that she had something to sit down on, if she was just going to keep standing in this room, alone. If she was going to wait like this each time she was summoned for a meeting at the Cradle, an amenity such as a chair really should have been placed in this circular room as a contingency. Not everyone in here was in their prime, their peak of physicality. The war had changed all that.

The place was intentionally kept dim as it was easy on her weary eyes; the same went for her colleagues. They had been meeting weekly on this damned station for the past eight months on a regular basis and she had been standing in place, waiting on her fellow members for as long as fifteen minutes every time. She wondered to herself if she should have one of her aides bring a stool from an adjacent room in the station for the next time they would meet.

Three minutes to go and still no one was around to make idle chit-chat. Sighing, the salarian grabbed the data slate in front of her and mindlessly flipped through some of the news articles so that she could see if there were any current events going on that she might have missed while she was away from her usual posting.

If anything, this room, even this entire station, was the last place she had ever wanted to find herself on. Might as well occupy her mind so that she could shake off her discomfort in the meantime with such distractions like the extranet.

Reading through the bulletins, she just saw more and more drabble about the end of the war, exactly as expected. She frowned. _Fools_, she thought silently. It had been at least eighteen months since the Reapers fell and yet the galactic body was still celebrating as though everything ended yesterday.

_All of them are blind. Their victory makes them overconfident and their overconfidence makes them stupid. They are unwilling to dig further into the spoils of war to reclaim what should be ours._

Still she scanned: cities on Earth had finally been rebuilt, the Citadel and all of the mass relays had been fully repaired, the krogan population was experiencing its highest boom in a thousand years (much to her distaste), and the quarians were in the process of developing a major city on their homeworld, Rannoch.

Completely predictable in these circumstances. Nothing out of the ordinary. The salarian tossed the slate to her desk in frustration but perked up when she heard both doors opposite from her open simultaneously and straightened her posture in response.

On the dot, both the human and the batarian strode in and took their respective places. The human was dark, bald, and wore a simple suit, as always. The batarian had his arms crossed and was garbed in the traditional fashion of a slaver. The alien's expression was one of distaste, but there had never been a time when she had seen the batarian in a mood other than grumpiness. Warm and fuzzy feelings had apparently been bred out of whatever marble of a cortex these four-eyed aliens possessed.

Perhaps the batarian was still reeling from the fact that his people had been the first hit by the Reapers when they had invaded. All of the worlds that his people had claimed were little more than ash at this point of time, the dying light from the embers tainting the atmosphere and poisoning their claims. Eighteen months and their society was the only one too fragmented to organize a recolonization effort, preferring to squabble amongst themselves as the rubble continued to smoke. The batarians, for the most part, had been the Reapers' primary source of cannon fodder, using them as a near infinite wave of ground troops that had fought against the organics who still had their free will. The height of the batarians would come to an end when they all summarily perished when the Crucible fired, the red light turning all of their thralls into dust.

Where there had been billions, now only remained hundreds of thousands. Combined, the batarians were probably now the weakest force in the galaxy at the moment, even numbering underneath the quarians. The fact that the batarians were still in dire need of aid only necessitated their involvement in this gathering, this Coalition. Their representative had been quick to jump at the chance to join forces, to claim what was rightfully theirs.

It was not the salarian's idea to bring the batarians into the equation at all, but the human had insisted. Petty grievances, he had reasoned, were to be cast aside in this case. It would be more beneficial for the galaxy for the animosity between the batarians and the Citadel species to be ignored entirely. As long as they were part of this Coalition, there would be no segregation here, no conflict, just the opportunity for all species to become a part of the most important movement in the post-galactic cycle. Of course, it was numbers that the human meant. It was all about the number of forces they had at their disposal.

But now that the three of them were all ready at their stations, the salarian resisted the urge to berate one of them for their tardiness. Technically, she had been _early _in coming hereand would most likely not endear herself to her cohorts if she started this meeting with acid. The few times _that_ had happened, the human and batarian had been equally as frosty in kind, putting a damper on the progress made during those days.

The dark-skinned human picked up his data slate and gave a thoughtful nod. "Greetings to you all again," he began politely. "I hope that we can keep things short today. I know that each and every one of us have frightfully cramped schedules, so I must thank you for taking the time to come at all."

The gratitude was unnecessary; it was merely typical human nature to bloat up the introductions, taking their sweet time in getting to the meat of the conversation until his audience was frothing at the mouth with anticipation. It irked the salarian to no end but the batarian did not seem to mind, rather he looked like he was eating up every word the man was saying.

As if he seemed to detect the salarian's ire, the human tilted his head and cleared his throat. "Straight to business then, the past few weeks have been quite fortuitous in implementing whatever countermeasures we have required in order to properly convey our intention to the Citadel Council. Within the next few days, our prepared statements should be sent immediately following the fallout."

The batarian now spoke for the first time, "Yes. That is confirmed. The respective unit has reported to me that everything is in place. This galaxy will soon become a little more interesting overall." The batarian looked up in thought, "Well, less interesting as when the Reapers came through but interesting nonetheless."

The human looked at the salarian, "Any word if there are factions among the asari wishing to join us?"

The human was referring to the topic of interest that she had pointed out during their last meeting and she regretfully shook her head, "None. The asari as a whole have been severely reprimanded with their mistake of withholding Prothean technology but they sure do keep their chin up when they've been knocked to the ground. The places I've probed have indicated that High Command believes that their punishment has been well deserved and that they are choosing to move forward with this black mark on their record. Embrace it as a sign of humility, so to speak."

The human sighed, "Hm. With fines that steep and with Citadel investigators breathing down their necks, I would have thought that they would have been more eager to join an organization such as ours."

"As did I. Clearly we underestimated the pride that the asari hold that is ingrained into them as a species. Perhaps we were pursuing a fool's mission this whole time."

"Perhaps," The human mused. He did not bother asking the batarian for his opinion as the alien was an inherent racist and would not provide an answer outside of his usual range of responses that delegated to tolerance and friendship. Shame, the batarians would have been better off as a species if they had given up their petty ambitions. There certainly would be more left standing now.

"It matters not," the salarian continued. "They are now out of the equation but we have the necessary components in place. All we need now is to adjust the parameters."

The batarian leaned forward, "And how exactly is _that_ going, human?"

The man allowed a tiny smile, "You will be updated on its progress by next morning. Right now, I have a team in place working to prepare against any potential hitches in the plan."

The salarian lowered her eyes, "You haven't sent one of _my_ operatives on your mission, I hope?"

"I would never do such a thing without consulting you first, my dear." It aggrieved the salarian to no end when the human addressed her as _my dear_. She made sure to scowl but the dim lighting coupled with her already chilled facial expression caused the gesture to be lost on him. The human picked up his data slate and tapped a few buttons on the touchscreen, tone mild, "I've even prepared a dossier for the man heading up this mission so that you can see the kind of person I would trust to a task like this. You can read Darren Randolph's file in your own time but I'd like you to get a first look so that you can ask any immediate questions."

The salarian frowned as the image of a stocky human filled her screen, trying not to wince at the sight of the repulsive alien. The man looked to be broad-shouldered, brown hair, and fair skin, despite the fact that his face looked like it was lined with wires underneath the skin, a faint white glow piercing through. The obvious marks of an implant. To the right read a list of his accomplishments and they trailed down the page to where the salarian had to scroll to read further. Soon, the words all blurred together and she set the slate down so that she could rest her eyes.

The batarian across from her frowned, all four eyes blinking, "It says here that this Randolph used to work for Cerberus, though. I was under the impression that all of the agents from Cerberus died when the Crucible fired."

"Only if they had been implanted with Reaper technology," the human corrected. "The units that the Illusive Man had unleashed were so heavily ingrained with these implants that the Crucible could not distinguish them from the Reapers themselves. Those whose implants were not Reaper based were unscathed." The human smiled as he tapped the base of his neck, "Case in point."

The batarian glowered a bit but looked back at the data slate in what the salarian could see was an enormous effort not to lash out, "Well, it seems like he has been very productive in the past couple years. What exactly is his desired purpose?"

"Assassination. If you look at the item marked 'Contracts' you'll see a list of the latest assignments he's carried out over the years."

"Yeah, I know. Three alone in the past six months."

The salarian shrugged, gesturing to the slate, "Are we supposed to know exactly who any of these people are? I mean, you've given us names but how are we supposed to be impressed when you haven't provided any details about this man's victims?"

"I would be happy to oblige," the human picked up his slate. "All three of these names that you see in this specified time frame were all ex-Cerberus. I say 'ex' because at the time of their death they no longer were in the official loop, owing to various circumstances. The first man, Randall Ezno, used to be an operative of mine until he defected some years back. I entrusted Randolph to eliminate him and his shuttle on Earth mysteriously exploded in atmosphere soon after he received his assignment. Little to no fuss, in that case."

The batarian had perked up a bit from this information but the salarian remained unconvinced, "Seems like a rather crude methodology-"

"-And the last two were carried out on the same day as both of them were located in the same prison," The human continued, not acknowledging the attempted interruption. "Randolph infiltrated a Systems Alliance prison and successfully executed both Hope Lillium, actual name unknown, and Oleg Petrovsky for divulging Cerberus information to their enemies. Randolph engineered a riot so it looked like they had gotten themselves killed in the chaos, so his hands have been washed from the matter entirely."

The salarian was skeptical, "Despite the fact that Cerberus technically was not around anymore, there was no actual reason for you to have these people killed."

"True," the human acknowledged. "But a message had to be sent nonetheless. In all fairness, we can't have former Cerberus soldiers running around and opening their mouths to the first person who would listen and blather out everything they ever knew about the organization. There are some secrets that are still in play so we all need to exercise caution in this case." The human smiled, "Call it 'covering our asses.'"

The salarian waved a hand in dismissal, acknowledging the change of subject, "Fine. But I still remain curious as to what you would put this man to do without consulting us first. Given Randolph's propensity for violence and destruction, how are we to know that he can come away from a job like this cleanly?"

"Don't you worry about how clean the job is. What you should have worried more about was _your_ ass." The human smiled widely, "Because I'm about to cover it."

* * *

The Citadel

The helmet was hot. It smelled like it had not been washed in weeks and was somewhat loose, bumping his chin whenever he took a step forward. Nonetheless, he pushed on past the sour tang, it took a few minutes to get used to but now he felt like he lived with the smell his whole life.

Darren Randolph crouch walked down the keeper tunnel which ran parallel to the main hallway above him. Artificial light streamed down from the grating, throwing the contours of his armor all around the cramped hallway.

His pistol, an M-11 Suppressor, was out and front in a two hand grip. He kept a cautious watch overhead for some C-Sec officers would tramp on the grating, causing him to freeze in anticipation. He needn't have worried, down was the last place anyone would look as the security officers merely walked on without a care in the world.

Randolph squeezed the grip of the gun, feeling the plastic tense underneath. He had been ordered to keep the number of enemy casualties to a minimum for this assignment, something he had little experience with, admittedly. It was a good thing that his current route had minimized the number of potential encounters, but he felt that he might have been able to negotiate a higher fee if that was the case.

The whir of an opening door sounded above him. He glanced upward to see the bright glow of a locked door gleam through the grate. No matter to him, he just walked underneath it. This was a good sign, it told him that he was headed in the right direction.

He turned his body to skirt past a set of pipes without his armor coming into contact with one of them. He was so close; he would never hear the end of it if he was detected _now_. Carefully rounding a corner, he let out a quick breath when he saw no one down the next hall. Good thing too, his destination was just overhead.

The slow blinking and chirping of instruments reached Randolph's ears, causing him to mentally prepare himself. He carefully stepped up to a pipe and used his free hand to gently push the nearby grating upward. As far as his helmet could allow, he peeked upward and scanned the room in front of him.

The security station was completely empty, no one was in the chairs at the monitors. He had timed his infiltration perfectly.

_Excellent_.

Quickly shoving the covering to the side, he hopped upwards and took one more careful look around the room before determining that it was safe for the moment. Walking over to the nearest console, he rummaged around in his pocked for the OSD that the Director had given him. Locating it, he inserted it into the drive and the program automatically started.

Windows of all shapes and sizes were appearing on the monitor, detailing attempts to access the system. The OSD had just the crack for C-Sec's systems and in moments the program was through, punching through the lines of code that served as the station's firewall. Randolph turned back from the monitors momentarily to aim his pistol at the door for a few seconds. Sensing no danger, he glanced at the progress his little program was making, smiling underneath the helmet for how smoothly everything was going so far.

The program was busy sorting through a multitude of files C-Sec had on hand. And a multitude it was, every citizen on the Citadel had their files copied and contained on servers in entire buildings on this station, all of everyone's information organized onto one, supposedly secure, location. What the program was doing right now was not copying information, but searching for one bit of data that had been inaccessible to them for a long time. After today, they would finally have it. The crack was currently running through a list of outbound calls made in the past week in an effort to keep its attention situated to one area at a time, right now limiting its parameters to calls made within C-Sec.

In seconds, the crack hit jackpot.

Disregarding the sender of the call in question, one Garrus Vakarian, the receiver of the certain call was copied to Randolph's omni-tool, a blinking sound accompanying the completion of its task. The number was immaterial, what Randolph wanted was the location of the receiver. He brought up his spike command and sent a ping towards the number, a meaningless blip of data that tracked basic information that a user could unlock, given their skill set and tech. Such an attempt would not register with the user on the other line but it would allow Randolph to obtain a wealth of material on his end, material that would be revealed for all to see.

The spike pinged back from its endeavor and sent him a set of coordinates, along with the appropriate planet. Just to double-check, he pinpointed the coordinates with a holographic map of the area in question. He grinned as he saw the point line up perfectly with a structure in an urban area. This program was always one hundred percent accurate, based on previous experience. What he was seeing on his screen was definitely the right location.

As he was busy confirming the accomplishment of his primary objective, Randolph's OSD was now performing a different task entirely. This time, it was busy inserting a few errant lines into the security detection code that is used at all checkpoints across the Citadel. Unnoticeable to all but the most technologically experienced, these lines provided just a bit of beefing up with the software, the addition of one small process for the automated programs to handle. C-Sec would not know it, but their detection protocols were now on the alert for a _new_ person, one they had not seen in some time.

Randolph tapped the eject button and retrieved his OSD, putting it back into his pocket with a smug face when he suddenly heard the door open.

He whirled and saw a C-Sec officer, a turian, drop his mandibles in surprise as he regarded the stranger in his presence. He was carrying a hot drink of some kind and his free hand twitched toward his side for either his pistol or radio, the man's training taking over.

Whichever, it did not matter for Randolph brought his arm up in a blur and depressed the trigger. The silenced shot sounded like a slight _thwping!_ but it looked like the officer had gotten smashed in the face with a mallet regardless. The cup fell from the officer's hand, spraying the floor with the scalding sludge. The round entered the turian's head just below cheekbone and exited near the back of his head, taking some of its brains with it as a hole the size of a fist materialized. An explosion of blue blood stained the walls and began to drip along with the gore that had joined it. The turian collapsed without a cry of pain, but to Randolph, the noise sounded like an earthquake.

_Ah, shit._

Cursing, he stowed his pistol as he stole away to the grating that was still ajar. Gently placing it back over his head after he dropped down into the keeper tunnel, he walked down the dark hallway with a little less caution than he had previously demonstrated, but confident that he would be detected no more in any case.

With any luck, the body of the turian would not be discovered until he had left the Citadel. Randolph did not like the idea of just leaving the turian there to rot but he had no time to waste. He needed to leave immediately. Minimum casualties, at least. It could not be avoided.

The Director would be pleased at the outcome nonetheless, the mission was still a success. Chalk that up as another mission accomplished on Randolph's record. Now they just needed to see if they would have to put the information gleaned to good use after all.

_For the Coalition._

* * *

**A Postlude to Reconciliation**

* * *

_**A/N: I really need to stop stating my supposed "retirement" because it seems like I'm right back into the thick of things after mere days of thinking of a coherent storyline. Well, here we go again.**_

_**This is going to be my take on a post-war story as it is one area I haven't attempted yet so I want to see where I can go with this.**_

_**Postlude is not related in any way to my prior fics, just throwing that out there in case someone wants to make that connection. Just getting the bad news out of the way for you there.**_

_**I'd expect this to run for about 11 chapters (released in weekly intervals) as I just want to create a epilogue to the main story that is short but still endearing. Expect drama and fluff, for I have all this prepared in my schedule.**_

_**Don't worry, this in no way is going to be as dark as the Rage Inherent Trilogy so you can rest easy if you found that aspect of that story to be a huge downer. While there will be some dark moments here, they will be countered by the situations of lightness that will signify that there will be a happier ending waiting.**_

_**I mean it.**_

_**-Rob**_


	2. Chapter 1: Idyll Achieved

_Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible - it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could._

-Barbara de Angelis

* * *

Eighteen months prior

_It had taken almost a month but the Normandy had finally limped back to Earth after the conclusion to the war with the Reapers, occupying one of the many broken landing zones at Heathrow Skyport in London. A broken hero returning home after a lifetime of war, the trusty ship had earned a long rest after all it had been through._

_The reason for the long wait was because the ship had been heavily damaged while skirting through a relay as the Crucible fired. Several of its internal systems had been knocked offline from the blast of energy and they did not have the proper facilities to make the needed repairs in a timely manner._

_Luckily for the crew, the Normandy had safely landed on a planet suitable for harboring life, even if it was mainly levo-based in terms of chirality, which meant that the dextro lifeforms on board were out of luck when it came to sustenance. It was not a big deal, the stores of rations in both chiralities they had on board the ship could last them for three months maximum. Plenty of time for the crew to make the necessary modifications so that they could return home safely._

_To Tali'Zorah, the entire month had been the worst period she had ever experienced in her life. Spending all that time and not knowing if her lover, her saera, was still alive, was the cruelest torture she could possibly imagine. It may have been a victory for the galaxy but she did not feel happy at all. Rather, it made her all the more miserable._

_This was partly because the last memory she had of him was his outline running toward the beam in the distance, right after he told her that he loved her. She could only stand by and watch from the Normandy's gantry, helpless, as he ran to claim a better future for everyone at the cost of his own._

_And…that brilliant man had succeeded._

_For an entire month, it seemed to Tali like she had gone through all those hoops and hurdles, just to fall in love with a martyr. Ancestors, after all that time she had spent with him and telling herself that they would be together forever, reality had done quite the efficient job of beating her up for her naiveté. She saw the vids of the aftermath in her down time, entranced in horror at the spectacle of the remains of the terrible battle. She could not fathom the consequences. Shepard had already died once but how could he come back from an entire station exploding? Apparently that was what everyone else thought, as all of the news stations were declaring the human MIA: Missing In Action. That just meant that they had not found a body that was not incinerated beyond recognition yet._

_The entire trip back to the war-scarred planet had been rather somber. While they did have this enormous victory hanging over everyone's heads, it was the loss of their commander that struck them so, pinning them down to the ground and muting their relief that any effort to celebrate seemed like a futile gesture. Even Joker, the loud-mouthed pilot of the Normandy, had nothing to say as he numbly guided the craft to the ground, to the awaiting gate._

_The crew took their time gathering their belongings as they trudged off the ship. The Normandy had been directed to a pad well away from the main terminal, most likely to get away from the press who were so eagerly anticipating quotes from Shepard's crew. Anything that would get them a pay raise for the victory propaganda._

_Garrus and Tali had been the first to step off the ship but almost immediately, the turian had softly nudged her in the ribs. Looking up in annoyance, she saw him motion his head to the foot of the stairwell and she blinked in confusion._

_Admiral Steven Hackett, Alliance Navy, was standing below them, hands behind his back as a Kodiak shuttle idled twenty meters away. Tali was apprehensive at first. Maybe the admiral just wanted a debriefing from the crew, to get an initial statement or something along those lines. But no, there was a faint smile on the edge of the human's face. Something was amiss here, a hidden secret that the human was itching to share, it seemed._

_Before she could open her mouth to ask, Hackett beat her to it, "Ah, Tali'Zorah, Garrus Vakarian, I'm glad to see that you all are okay. I understand that all of you have had a hell of a time getting back here and everyone is grateful for your safe return. Before I pry any further I must ask that you come with me immediately."_

_She faltered for a bit, confused. Garrus put a hand on her shoulder to steady her in assurance. "What is this about, admiral?" he asked the human, voice low and gentle. "Do you want us to detail where we've been for the past month? Right now, all of us are strung out pretty badly-"_

_Hackett gave both the turian and quarian his equal attention as he took a deep breath. "No, no," he assuaged gently. "I actually come with glad tidings. Someone has been asking for you. Someone who has been waiting a while to hear from you again."_

_She could not dare to believe it as her face must have paled underneath her mask, for all the blood rushed out of it as if she anticipated the admiral's unsaid answer. "Is…is it him?" she breathed. "Is it…J-John?"_

"_Yes, Miss Zorah," Hackett smiled warmly, quickly giving her the answer that she longed to hear. "It is."_

_Tali swayed on the spot but Garrus was there to catch her. Throwing her arm around his shoulders, he patted the dazed and moaning quarian's helmet as he straightened to address the admiral. "Are you absolutely sure?" he asked. _

"_Beyond a doubt."_

"_Spirits,we have to get going, then," the turian said automatically, brain running at hyperspeed. "We have to see him, Tali most of all." Garrus shifted his friend in his arms slightly, "She and the commander are…close, shall we say."_

"_I don't doubt it," Hackett grinned. "The commander has been asking for her every day."_

_Hackett gave a wave to the Kodiak pilot, who started to warm up the engines in preparation. Understanding the need for haste in this situation, he reached for Tali's hands so that he could help guide her over to the awaiting craft. "I'll make sure that the rest of the crew meets up with you later. I can tell that this is more important right now."_

_Truly, Tali was ever so lucky to be surrounded by understanding individuals who knew what the poor woman was going through. Her mind was racing so fast it was about to blow out at the next little tidbit of data inserted into that fragile place. The sheer, sheer joy that she was paralyzed with had completely overridden any train of coherent thought at the moment. John…her John…was alive. It was there out in the open, he lived for her! She did not know what she was going to do when she would see him, going through the option to either kiss him or punch him. Maybe both, that damnable human certainly deserved them, scaring her like that._

_Tali was silent the entire shuttle ride over to the hospital, rubbing at her arms absentmindedly as she inexplicably felt nervous shakes all over her. Why was she afraid? Was she still concerned that this was all a lie, that she was merely trapped in a dream? Tali pinched her arm as hard as she could and gasped at the sharp pain that flared from the motion. Nope, no dream._

_Perhaps it was not a good idea for Hackett to idly mention the room number that Shepard was housed in on the way over, for when the Kodiak landed on the roof of the Royal London Hospital, Tali shot out of the Kodiak as soon as the doors opened, sprinting straight to the nearest elevator. Before anyone could blink or make a move to slow her down, she sprung into the awaiting doors and pressed the button for the seventh floor, the trauma unit._

_Once the doors opened for Tali, her feet beat heavily onto the scuffed tile floor as she took long strides across it. Her heart was in her mouth as she took several deep breaths at a quick jog. She ignored the cries coming from behind for her, to slow down. Garrus had ostensibly followed her in the adjacent lift and was now in hot pursuit. She did not listen; she had to get to him. She needed to be there for him._

_From the gaggle of Alliance marines flanked on either side of a door just ahead of her, she determined that her destination lay only feet away from her. Before she could even reach the door, a marine boldly stepped in front of her and halted her rush by grabbing her arms in a firm grip, his face blank as the quarian struggled._

"_Let go of me!" Tali shrieked. "I have to be with him! He needs to see me!"_

_The soldier did not comply, merely grunting out, "No one is allowed in the room at this time, miss."_

_Tali howled as she tried to push through but the man was too strong. She felt herself faltering, her strength sapped away as she desperately tried to peer around the marine's bulky armor at the door, longing for a glimpse of the man inside._

_She heard a huffing noise as Garrus caught up to the group, eyes instantly lowered at the sight of Tali being restricted from entry. "Back off right now, soldier," he growled, feeling his fringe ruffle in fury. The turian was unarmed, unarmored, but he would rather be damned if these jarheads were going to prevent entry for the two of them. He felt his hands tense as he prepared to lay into these blank-faced idiots as they continued to bar access._

_Tali was sobbing now at the futility of it all and Garrus stepped in front of her, potentially putting her out of harm's way as he braced for fisticuffs. He eyed the soldier and was pleased to see a spark of fear in the other man's face as the turian towered over him. The human swallowed, "My apologies, sir. But our orders are to let no one at any point. It's for his safet-"_

_Garrus moved into the man's personal space, his jaw barely moving as he spoke dangerously, "I will not ask you a second time. Move out of the way and let us through. That is our commander in there, as well as her boyfriend." Garrus gestured to the trembling quarian as he spoke, "I don't care what your orders are. Step aside right now or I will force my way in. And you won't be able to stop me."_

_The marine reflexively tilted the rifle in his hands, leading Garrus to widen his eyes in astonishment. Surely these meatheads would not dare…they could not be so blindly stupid as to-_

"_SOLDIER!" a commanding voice barked, the noise excruciatingly loud despite the source having come from halfway down the hall. Admiral Hackett, red-faced, was striding purposefully towards the group, fury lining his features. "Stand down this instant! What the hell is wrong with you? Did you not get the notice I put out this morning detailing that the Normandy crew would be here today?"_

_The man was about to speak but Hackett waved him off, "I don't want to hear any excuses from any of you. I want the name of your superior and you can all expect severe punishment for interfering with the crew that saved your asses ten times over. Get out of the way, RIGHT NOW!" Lowering his voice and gently grabbing Tali's arm, Hackett guided her over to the door as the marines made a hole. Looking behind her, she nodded a silent thanks to the admiral and watched Garrus motion for her to go on, to see him once again. Taking a deep breath, she hit the green switch and the door slid open to allow her through._

_A few nurses glanced up from a bed as they saw Tali enter. The quarian nodded to them as she walked around the wheeled surface. She dimly heard them say that they were about to whisk him off to surgery but she did not acknowledge them further. Instead, she was focused on the frail form seemingly dozing in the bed in front of her._

_A tangle of tubes stuck out from his arms, his face was heavily bandaged, she could see parts where his skin had been rubbed raw, signs of second-degree burns. His upper body was propped upright on the bed and she could see the steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. Despite the heavy coverings over his face and the breathing mask around his mouth, Tali was completely positive it was him._

_Shepard was alive._

_Tali let out a soft cry of happiness and the bedridden man's eye twitched slightly. She clamped her jaw shut, wary if the man was all right to talk but she needn't have worried. Shepard's head tilted in her direction as his eyes fluttered open to her voice, resulting in the most pained but loving grin to spread upon his face as he took her in at last._

"_T-Tali…" he managed weakly, a tear running down his cheek. "You're…you're here…"_

_His left hand was twitching toward her and she eagerly grabbed after it, careful not to apply too much pressure lest she snap a bone in half. Her eyes were also rapidly welling with tears and she tried to speak but all that came out was a strangled sob. She attempted speech one more time but quickly dissolved into blind weeping, hanging her head so that Shepard could not see her like this. She hated it when she cried in front of him, thinking that it made her look like a stupid, emotional girl._

_From the human, Tali heard nothing, but she felt her hand being gently squeezed, a thumb moving across the back of it in a way that she enjoyed. The familiar sensation came back to her and she looked up at Shepard, watching his tired smile and seeing him fully relax onto the bed. He now could see that his loved one was safe and well. He could rest easy from here on out._

_Fatigue overcame Tali as a result from her violent emotional outbursts in the past hour. She started feeling her body tremble as an adrenaline crash rapidly approached her. A nurse gently put a hand on her shoulder and whispered that they were about to take Shepard away to surgery. Something about a minor procedure for setting a broken ankle but she was strangely fine with that. Knowing and seeing for herself, that her John was alive, after all the Reapers threw at him, was the greatest thing she could ever imagine at that time. Tali now had the mental fortitude to realize that Shepard was going to be just fine. She started to willingly pull back to let her love get wheeled away until he suddenly tightened his grip on her hand._

"_W-Wait," he coughed, feeling a burst of agitation. Confused, Tali awaited whatever he had to say with bated breath. What could be so important to tell her right now when they had all the time they wanted to talk in the future?_

_Whatever scenarios she had in her head, they did not even come close to reality._

"_Will…" he whispered raggedly, staring intently through her visor into her eyes, "Will you marry me?"_

_It was as if she was a dot upon a blot of paper, still and stark against the bare background. The hushed gasps of the nurses did not register, the blazing sunlight from the windows hitting her legs went unnoticed. Her heartbeat seemed to have slowed by a factor of ten, everything blurring around her. Her addled brain tried to focus helplessly but all of her senses had been abandoned. _

_It had been just her for all this time…but now a new dot joined the page._

_Taking a breath, the filtered oxygen flooded her lungs and the room cleared, the contours sharp and straight. Tali took a long time to blink, closing her eyes and opening her mouth, the word instantly upon her lips in the infinitesimally small time it took to process Shepard's request._

"_Yes," she spoke quietly before increasing her volume, her knees weakening as she fought not to pass out from happiness right then and there, any and all frustration pushed aside. "Yes…yes…yes, yes, yes! Yes, you bosh'tet, yes!"_

_Shepard smiled through the tears that were now pouring down his face, using his sheets to soak some of them up while simultaneously trying to stifle his sobs. The choked up nurses briskly wheeled him out the door before they could become too emotionally impaired to do their duties properly. It did not matter to Tali, she watched him go with a patience she had not felt in years, numbly giving a wave through his happiness._

_Tali staggered over to a nearby couch and collapsed upon it, finding the comforting tendrils of sleep approach her like an old friend, a reprieve from her eventful morning. Before she finally succumbed, she pondered the foreign prospect that she had just agreed to, clearly something the human had had on his mind for a while._

_Marriage. It was quite the step but it actually seemed logical to her. Tali recalled hearing about those human ceremonies but the minutiae had gone over her head, there would be time to learn them, however. But Shepard knew that quarians bonded for life, that they took the idea of mating very seriously, more seriously than the average human. A request such as this would not have been asked otherwise unless…unless he was completely serious. He fully understood the implications for asking her of such a thing, this was something he would never dare joke about. He wanted to be bonded to her for the rest of his life, and she in turn wanted the same thing._

_The beautiful thought overpowered her but she did not cry._

_She did not cry._

* * *

Rannoch – Present Day

The transition from sleep came naturally to her, as it had been for more than a year now. Tali mumbled quietly as she slowly moved her arm across the bed, reaching out for the person who lay beside her, keeping her eyes tightly shut to prevent any of the intruding sunlight from trespassing upon her vision.

However, her fist closed on empty air and she sat up instantly in confusion, the sheets falling off her body. Her dark hair wisped messily around her shoulders, grey skin covered in goosebumps as her bareness was exposed to the air-conditioned room. She wiped the intruding strands out of her eyes as she tried to determine where her partner had gone.

A quick glance around the room alleviated her brief panic, after she glanced toward the sliding door that led outside. Shepard, instead of accompanying her in the room at the moment, looked like he was sitting on the balcony of their house, steam rising from what had to be a cup of the stuff that he called "coffee."

Tali smiled, swinging her legs out of the bed, eager to embrace the new day. She padded over to the chair in the corner of their room, naked, towards her enviro-suit that she had left neatly folded on the comfortable surface the night before, her helmet positioned right beside it. She stretched out a hand for the suit but stopped in place as she analyzed the potential consequences in her head.

It had been almost a year since both Shepard and Tali had moved into their new house on Rannoch, near the main quarian settlement, and it had been nothing but pure bliss for the both of them. It was quite spacious for the both of them, seeing as they were used to living in single rooms on spaceships for pretty much most of their lives and now they had their own _house_. It stood two stories tall with a stone theme, a bedroom and bathroom on the top floor, kitchen and living room at the bottom. It even had a small workshop on the side of the house, an area for Shepard and Tali to store most of their weapons and armor, as well as providing a place for the technically proficient quarian to tinker around with tech (one of her creations being a modified FENRIS mech that Shepard just called "Dog"). Really, the place was practically a palace for the both of them, considering the huge influx of amenities now available to them.

Almost immediately after they had settled in, Tali had taken to removing her helmet a few times a week, gradually adapting to the atmosphere of their house (already purposed to make the environment as sterile as possible), enduring the few weeks of sickness to achieve total comfort inside her own house. She only wanted for Shepard to see her as much as possible, as there was no war to tear them apart again, and the fact that ever since they had resigned their military commissions (a well-deserved reward), they had no duties that intruded upon their togetherness, leaving just them in their own little world.

Adapting to the house was one thing for Tali but the planet itself was another story. There were more germs and potential strains of bacteria inhabiting the area outside the safety of their house but Tali was determined to look out on her planet without a mask and breathe the air her ancestors once shared. Shepard was concerned at first for her health but she made sure to limit these cases to only once a month if she could help it, enjoying the plethora of foreign scents as they came unfiltered to her nose, breathing in the natural splendor of her world. Of course, each time she did this she got a little sick but her reaction had been decreasing steadily each time she made the effort. Perhaps one day, she would suffer no ill effects at all.

Now, as she stood above her enviro-suit with her conundrum pondered out, she shrugged and moved to the closet instead. Despite having spent the night without a mask, she noted that she did not feel under the weather at all and it had been some time since she had walked outside without a protective covering anyway. What harm could a few minutes outside bring?

Smiling, Tali opened the closet and pilfered one of Shepard's robes from its hanger. She slipped the loose clothing over her shoulders, the warmth feeling like she had wrapped herself in a heavy blanket. Rubbing her hands together eagerly, Tali glided down into the kitchen as she prepared to join Shepard out on the balcony, wanting to first fetch a drink to quench her thirst. She looked over on the table and giggled softly when she saw the mug of dark liquid on a hot plate set out in front of her. Shepard had already prepared her drink for the morning, perhaps anticipating her daily routine.

Tali retrieved the mug and took a long whiff of the seeping drink. It actually smelled very similar to the coffee that Shepard drank every morning. And perhaps that was the entire point, for the turians had gone through something of a cuisine revolution once they discovered what humans did with their cooking. Particularly, the turians were enamored of the fact that the majority of the human population drank this hot brown liquid that seemed to perk them up after a quick slumber that they became curious about the social and chemical implications of the drink itself. That soon led them to discover the properties of caffeine and would model their newly synthesized drink after the human variant of coffee, no less. It quickly became a huge hit amongst the turian and quarian population, as both had dextro chirality, quickly and unimaginatively dubbing it "dextro-coffee," but most preferred to call it just "coffee." It did not matter to Tali, she actually enjoyed the bitter drink. It was certainly more flavorful than the nutrient paste she had to eat for rations aboard the flotilla. Quarian hypersensitivity at work on all fronts.

Her coffee retrieved, Tali ascended the stairs and slid open the door to join Shepard in watching the sunrise over the bay, where their house was located. Dog was lying down next to him, perking up at the close sounds, blue optics glowing. Turning slightly in his chair, she saw Shepard's eyebrows raise with pleasure as he appraised her robed form sidling towards him, faint lines of cybernetics glowing on her body, up and down her arms and tracing around her jaw. These implants were meant to assist the weakened quarian immune systems from their time in their suits, necessary additions that facilitated any health complications that could potentially arise from a breach.

Shepard grinned warmly as the grey-skinned alien approached him, her beautiful face drawing forth a fire within him. Tali could be considered a lovely woman from all walks of life, her glowing white eyes dipping modestly at his warm gaze. Interestingly, her shyness at exposing herself to anyone except the human she now lived with gave that beauty such an intense amplification that made Shepard greatly appreciate all the risks she took just to be intimate with him. For this woman, Shepard would have traveled through the pits of hell to get to her. Luckily, he only had to travel through a mild inconvenience on board the Citadel.

Shepard's appearance had certainly changed in the past year for he now had a full head of hair rather than close-cropped covering that barely qualified as such. The right side of his face was lightly scarred, either from the explosion on the Citadel or from the enormous amount of rubble that he had been trapped under immediately after. Hiding most of this was the dark black beard that definitely surpassed Joker's in terms of its fullness, its lines straight and clean, giving him a more weathered look. Tali actually liked the beard, to her surprise. It was a quality she could not put her finger on but it seemed to suit the man immensely.

Before she could reach him, Shepard stood and closed the gap between them. Tali noted, with a pang of sadness, that Shepard was still limping slightly as he walked. His broken ankle had not been set properly as it was a rush job but he had declined to have it fixed, one of the many injuries inflicted on his body that served as a constant reminder of what he had been through. Tali would quietly wish sometimes that Shepard would get past his pride and get himself properly healed. But Shepard knew that setting the ankle would be a more invasive procedure than it seemed, it was an ugly injury that simply could not be fixed under the knife. He would have to lose his foot if that was the case and he did not fancy having any more metal underneath his skin as it was already.

Smiling and pushing such negative thoughts out of her head, she leaned down and planted a kiss firmly upon his lips, enjoying the slight taste of coffee upon them, his beard tickling her. Pulling away, she grabbed the other chair as both sat down together, with her positively glowing. "Morning, John," she said, taking a sip of her dextro-coffee as she reached for his hand, to which he immediately reciprocated.

"Morning, _saera_," he grinned, causing Tali to quiver in delight as they sat down together. The universal translators typically were rather petulant in adapting to the quarian language and a few terms would slip out every now and then if the proper phrase was spoken, _saera_ being one of those. Shepard had picked up on it some months back (when Tali was not aware that it would not translate properly) and fell in love with it immensely once the actual meaning was made clear to him.

Khelish was the sort of language that had many multiple meanings layered underneath their words, conveying emotions that English simply could not put into words in the first place. _Saera_ could be crudely translated to "Keeper of my Soul" but Tali had explained to Shepard that there was more to this simple translation. It was a term that was spoken in private, between lifemates, that conveyed complete and absolute trust between the other. It was a term that went beyond whatever sanctions the stagnant institutions of marriage imposed (that symbolical boundary would be cleared soon enough in due time) and transcended base chemical reactions into something metaphysical. Hell, they were _practically_ lifemates at this point anyway, which made the term all the more relevant.

Unable to control her wide smile, Tali set her cup down on the small table in front of her. "You were up rather early today," she noted.

Shepard shrugged and moved his thumb across the back of her hand, just how she liked it. "I guess I was," he said nonchalantly. "I was just not keen on sleeping in, most likely."

"Last night's exertions had nothing to do with it?" Tali wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, remembering the joyful and private encounter shared between the two.

Shepard snorted, shaking his head in derision, "You're terrible, you know that?"

"What, me? I seem to recall, John, that _you_ were the one who exposed me to this change in my lifestyle. I probably would not have even gotten out of my suit by now at this point in my life if it weren't for you."

He waved a hand in denial, laughing, "Oh, no. You're not going to put the full blame on me for your sexual corruption, Tali."

Tali laughed in earnest as well, "Really? Then that does mean that some of the blame _is_ attributed to you."

"So are you telling me that you wanted to _avoid_ this particular avenue in your life? That my introduction rather derailed that plan for you?"

Tali put on a mischievous look as she deliberately glanced to the side, humming distantly, "Hmmmm…_no_."

"But you have to admit," Shepard added just as facetiously, taking a few glances towards the glorious sun peeking over the horizon. "If it hadn't been for me, you would never have been rescued by a dashing commander, asked to join his crew, and then gone off to save the galaxy. What does _that_ tell you?"

"You tell me," Tali laughed. "I'm _marrying_ the _bosh'tet_ of that dashing commander."

"Damn right you are," he punctuated in mock seriousness. "I didn't buy an expensive suit for nothing, you know."

Tali raised her eyebrows in amusement, "Hey, I have to get dressed up for this occasion _too_. What, did you think that I'm just going to show up in my regular enviro-suit?"

Now Shepard was rapt with interest, "So you're saying that quarians also like to dress snappy whenever they're wed as well?"

"Of course, you fool. I had Kasumi help me pick it out, in fact." She noticed Shepard's apprehensive glance and grinned, "She didn't steal it, if that's what you're thinking."

Before Shepard could chuckle again, Tali grabbed his head and lowered her lips onto his once more. He fully surrendered himself in her grip, taking in the pleasing sensations as their sensitive surfaces brushed together, locked in a trance in the still air.

After a few seconds, Tali broke away, brushing her hand across Shepard's furry face. "At least I had the good fortune to bond with a cute human, though," she shrugged in a flippant manner.

Shepard mimicked her motion, placing his palm flat across her cheek, the soft sensations causing her to sigh in pleasure as he gently smoothed her skin. He cocked his eyebrow suggestively, "I think, in my case, that I had just as good fortune meeting a beautiful quarian who was probably the most earnest person I've ever known."

Her fingers began plucking at his hairs absentmindedly as she grinned, "You sappy _bosh'tet_. You just wanted to get me out of my suit."

"I guess I succeeded. Hell, if I recall correctly, you practically _jumped_ out of it on that first night. I don't think I even got to use my persuasive voice before I knew what was happening."

She lightly swatted his leg, giggling, "_Now_ who's being terrible, hmm? You're just lucky that I was completely overwhelmed that night before we went off to the Collector base."

"Oh? And what difference would that have made if you had been more lucid?"

She gave a coy smile, "I would have been out of my suit much sooner."

Shepard barely had a chance to grin before he embraced his best friend, his fiancé, in a terrific hug as he deeply kissed her. All this time they had known each other and they still acted like each day was their last, as if they were hardly daring to believe their luck that they were still alive after all they had went through.

Shepard had a brief thought flutter through his head and he pulled back, squinting, "Did we ever finish Fleet and Flotilla last night? I can't remember."

Tali now scrunched up her face as she struggled to recall the previous night. "I…we might have left it playing after…after things kind of deteriorated for us."

"That's putting it mildly," Shepard said with a hint of teasing. "I think it was your singing that set me off. I had no idea the film was a musical so it came as something of a surprise to me. It was so cute how you couldn't resist singing along to the music numbers."

She shuffled in her seat, cheeks darkening in an intense blush. "Well," she stammered, "I don't think I've ever sung to anyone before outside of the flotilla. Can you imagine what Garrus would say if he found out about this?"

"I haven't the foggiest idea. Speaking of which, I checked the extranet purchase and it turns out that you deliberately bought the musical adaptation."

"So?"

"So," he said in a teasing manner, "You knew what you were getting into when you bought the vid. I knew something was amiss when Bellicus and Shalei started singing onscreen because I read that it was supposed to be an epic, not a musical."

"Hey," she pouted, "That version was my favorite as a kid! How was I supposed to know that trying to relive my childhood would end with _you_ pouncing onto _me_?"

"I'd guess we can call it even, then?"

"_Bosh'tet_," she sighed but still could not stop the smile spreading across her face. The two of them basked in the sunlight until Tali gripped Shepard's hand tightly. "John?"

"Yes, Tali?"

"I've just been wondering…about the marriage ceremony…"

Shepard sat up, all playfulness gone, face serious. "Something troubling you?" he asked gently.

Tali quickly shook her head, "Oh no, nothing serious. It's just something I've had on my mind. I mean, the concept of mating is something both of our species share but I just wanted to know, what does marriage mean to you?"

Shepard sat back, holding Tali's hand as he gazed upward at the soft purple sky. "To put it simply," he began, "I would have to describe marriage as a union that enacts obligations between two people. From what you have told me, the concepts are practically similar to one another."

"Yes…but I've also heard of several cases in which…in which marriages dissolve because the mates weren't compatible with one another…"

"Ah, yes. That process is called a divorce and they are much more common in human society than quarian, I'm ashamed to say." Shepard locked gazes with Tali as he continued, "You're concerned that because I'm a human then that brings the probability of a divorce in the equation, yes?"

She silently nodded but he did not falter. "That's understandable, there are many new things about this that can be frightening for most people. But here's the interesting thing, Tali. Most marriages between humans are completely loving and caring, with both partners successful in finding their match in life. And that's just by the regular methods of dating."

He noticed that she was starting to perk up a bit so he continued on, "And if you take into account what we've been through and look where we are now, I don't think that I could ever be capable of finding someone _half_ as perfect as you, Tali. When I asked you if you wanted to marry me all those months ago, I did it with no regrets and a clear conscience. I asked you to marry me because…because I wanted our union to be official, for us to clearly be marked as lifemates, as husband and wife. I wanted to marry you, because I love you."

Tali's eyes were lapsing into her normal habit of filling with tears whenever she got extremely emotional. Shepard carefully caught the delicate drops with his thumbs as he cupped her head, heart breaking as he watched her struggle with her breathing.

Between erratic gulps of air, she managed to choke out, "I…only…wanted to know…just the legal differences…between our cultures…not a heartfelt speech…you _idiot_."

Unexpectedly bursting out into laughter, Shepard hugged her frail body as she started to laugh as well, quickly lapsing into hysterics as they soon lost their breath due to their convulsions, giggling so hard that their sides ached. He nuzzled Tali's head as they began to calm down, listening to the nearby waves crash over the rocks in the bay miles away, the noise a peaceful soundtrack.

_Good lord_, he thought in amusement. _This woman is going to give me a heart attack_.

* * *

The Citadel

Garrus Vakarian, ex-C-Sec, grimaced as he walked into the security station, already spotting the problem as he skirted past the illegal tech scanners. The blue blood stain on the shiny ground was nigh impossible to miss, seeing as it was positioned by the door and he took careful measures to step around it without planting his foot in the evidence. What a way to start the week.

Glancing in front, he spotted the person he wanted to see who was over by the consoles, conversing with a technician. Citadel Security Commander Armando-Owen Bailey saw the turian headed over to him and abruptly ended his chat with the tech, preferring to meet the turian with his hand held out in greeting.

Garrus yawned as he accepted the shake, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "You better have a damn good reason for waking me up this early in the day, Bailey," he grumbled.

The turian had a right to be grumpy this morning, seeing as he had been blissfully retired for the past year and a half ever since he helped stop the Reapers with Shepard. Choosing to stay on the Citadel for the time being, he had shoved most of the fortune he accumulated over the years (saving the galaxy resulted in a lot of perks for Shepard's crew) into an investment portfolio, waiting until his interest added up so that he could retire properly, away from all the hubbub. He heard that there was quite the rage on Palaven for beachfront property right about now. The prospect of being near water was not enticing, but the weather was. Turians loved warm climates and the comfortable thought of natural heat gave the turian a glow whenever he pictured what his future would look like in a few years.

So now, Garrus had been delegated to either collecting guns or fantasizing about his future tropical home, while he reaped the praise from every passerby he ran into. Life was good for the turian, he slept in, ate well, made progress with his hobbies, and kept in touch with his friends. Today marked the first time that routine had been spoiled, however.

Bailey paused and gave a shrug of regret, sighing, "Believe me, Garrus, I didn't want this any more than you and I held out calling for your presence unless I could get some semblance of what the hell went on in this room."

"So? What did happen?"

"You used to be a detective, hazard a guess."

Garrus looked back at the large blood stain to the body bag a couple of coroners were now zipping up in the corner. He pointed at the contents of the bag, "Who's in there?"

"A Lieutenant Orirus," Bailey offered as Garrus strode over and crouched, unzipping the bag so that he could take a closer look. "Poor guy must have been caught off guard for his mid-shift break, he was found with the remains of a drink next to him."

Garrus did not wince as he examined the damage to the unfortunate turian's head, gently turning it so that he could take a look at the massive exit wound at the back. "No burns near the entry point," he noted. "So it wasn't an execution. Was his pistol drawn?"

"Nope. It was still holstered when we found him. We even examined it to see if it had been fired recently. No dice."

"Hmm. An assassin would never go to the trouble of deliberately placing a gun back in an effort to confuse us. Do we have any footage to piece together what happened here."

"Zilch," Bailey grimaced. "Our cameras were already spiked with a still image of the area in question hours before this ever happened. Everything tied up nice with a little red bow on top. It probably meant that Orirus spooked whoever was in here when he entered and was dropped before he even knew what was happening."

Garrus squinted his eyes, "How do you think the assassin got in here?"

Bailey pointed to the side, where the ventilation grate had been placed aside. "It was loose when we examined it. Duct leads to a keeper tunnel and that means any future investigation is going to be one gigantic clusterfuck as there's no way to track the assassin's path. We may have most of the keeper tunnels mapped but they are in no way monitored so we won't be able to discern where our friend originated from."

Garrus stood, dusting his pants off as he sighed, "It's a terrible inconvenience, Bailey, I will admit, but I still don't see what exactly this has to do with _me_. I mean, I don't even _know_ this guy here and I certainly was never stationed at a simple security checkpoint which means I am completely out of my depth. Just cut the crap and give it to me straight because I want a good reason. _Now_."

The commander did not say anything else but instead waved for the turian to follow, heading back to the line of monitors at the edge of the room. Waving a hand in front of one screen, the motion detectors picked up on the movement and the holographic display lit up, showing a list of computer jargon that was completely meaningless to Garrus so he waited for Bailey to come up with an appropriate explanation.

Responding to his mental request, Bailey gestured to the screen, "The boys managed to recover a few sets of hidden subroutines that were issued to this very workstation at the supposed time our assassin was here. We're still trying to figure out if our friend managed to slip a virus into our net, probably going to screw up our security for the next few days, but he did make a public domain search while he was here."

Garrus tilted his head slowly, "And what was he searching for?"

"Just one file, a call record made from the Citadel," Bailey tapped at the keyboard and the item in question popped up on screen. "I'm not sure exactly the significance of this is so I thought you could help clue us in a little."

Garrus squinted at the screen as he tried to read it, wishing he remembered his trusty eyepiece to enhance his vision. Finally processing the results, he straightened up, confused. "I'm…" he mused, trying to run through the reasoning, "I'm not entirely sure how significant this is."

"Try me," Bailey offered.

"As it says on the screen, I made a personal call on the Citadel to a private address the past week."

"And? Who was the recipient? We've searched high and low on every record on the Citadel for that exact address and nothing's come up."

Garrus wilted, "That's because this person doesn't live on the Citadel. It's a Rannoch address. More specifically, it's Commander Shepard's address."

Bailey blinked in surprise, "Damn, so _that's_ where he's gone to. So what we have here is that someone snuck onto the Citadel and killed a C-Sec officer, just to get Shepard's number?"

"It's worse than that. If you have the right software you can pinpoint the area where the recipient lives to the exact millimeter. Whoever these guys are, they probably wanted the number to know where Shepard lives." He glanced over to the zipped up bag, "And they were most certainly willing to kill for it."

"Shit," Bailey mused. "Should we alert the commander?"

Garrus thought for a moment before shaking his head, "Not right now, no. Rannoch has one of the most heavily protected planetary blockades in the galaxy. No one sets foot on that planet except specifically designated individuals based on a rigorous permit process or through special permission. For someone like you or me, going to Rannoch on a whim is an impossibility. Shepard retired there for some privacy in his life and I think that all of this evidence stacks up as nothing more than futile effort at best. I say let C-Sec continue to investigate, these clowns are sure to show their hand again."

Bailey nodded in satisfaction, "Well, that settles it. I believe that with your analysis, I would like to deputize you as a temporary C-Sec officer for the remainder of the investigation, Garrus."

The turian's mandibles twitched in surprise, "What? No, no, no. I'm done with all of this, Bailey, you know that. In case you haven't heard, I'm retired as well. Besides, there isn't much more to this case that I could possibly contribute to."

"True," Bailey nodded, "But it would do the other officers some good to see that you're busy working with us in light of this grisly murder. A huge boost in morale would be appropriate considering the current setting. Garrus Vakarian, 'The Best Shot in the Galaxy,' working with C-Sec again in one final reunion. Sounds like headliner material to me, huh buddy?"

"I admit, it all does sound very flattering, but-"

"I'll even pull some strings to have you receive a stipend equivalent to three months' pay, tripled."

Garrus' eyes widened dramatically as his mandibles quivered in delight. Well, if he was going to run an investigation with a dead end, then the prospect of a whopping paycheck was certainly cause for him to sign up. With cash like that, he could pay for some new upgrades for his Black Widow rifle that he had been longing for, its heat diffusion system was improperly calibrated and a new one would increase the number of shots dramatically. With that much cash, he might be able to afford the X series of upgrades, the thought a tantalizing prospect to the turian.

Garrus gave a huge shrug and held out his hand in agreement, to which Bailey accepted. Garrus lowered his eyes in as close to a pleased expression as he could muster, "Hell, Bailey, why didn't you just say that in the first place? I'm in."

"Glad you're in business, Garrus," Bailey responded eagerly. "Come on, we've got to fill out the necessary paperwork so that you're official. I would wager that you would have preferred to forget about paperwork entirely, right?"

"Small change, in my book. Now, I do seem to recall you saying something about 'headlines'…"

* * *

_**A/N: I decided to post this chapter a little early in my schedule. Just wanted to get it out of the way as I spend the next week working a little more on the story and trying to coordinate my hectic schedule at the moment.**_

_**So we have our favorite characters laid out, all living their lives after the war.**_

_**Now…what will become of all this?**_

_**I'll post Chapter 2 next Friday, so hang in there! (Of course, if I get ahead of schedule, I might just post them early as well)**_


	3. Chapter 2: Unhelpful Web Search

_I've never had very high regard for therapists. I owe my health, my mental survival, to my friends and loved ones._

-Salman Rushdie

* * *

As much as he loved the planet, Darren Randolph hated this part of Earth. It did not matter that he had plenty of time to warm up to the area, figuratively and literally speaking, the fact was that it was simply a miserable place to be at the moment.

For starters, he hated that it was just a constant skyline of buildings as far as the eye could see whenever he departed the spaceport in this location. He wished to see at least a sliver of green in the area but the flat landscape had been plowed over years before he was even born. Now it was a teeming megalopolis, large enough to qualify as its own nation if it had the notion to secede from the Alliance. Fat chance of that happening, this was still a popular tourist spot, for whatever reason.

Randolph adjusted his collar as he started to sweat in the muggy air, scratching his cheek where his implants were starting to become irritated. The summer sun blazed down on his head, heating it up and causing the back of his neck to be uncomfortably warm. The humidity mixed with the smog was unbearable, at least when he was not lying in the shadow of a skyscraper, causing him to slightly cough. How anyone could live here was the question of the day, and perhaps for the ages.

Thankfully, Randolph spotted his driver as he exited the main terminal. He carried no baggage (his armor and weapons had been safely deposited back on the Citadel) so he simply sat down in the skycar without a word. It was only a short hop to his destination but he still looked out the window at the teeming city below him. Ants on the pavement to his point of view.

Two minutes later, the skycar docked at the location and he briskly strode out, adjusting his black t-shirt (perhaps a poor choice for the climate) so that he looked vaguely presentable. The row of elevators in the center were unoccupied, so he was spoiled for choice this time. He stepped inside the leftmost one and pressed the button for the top floor, feeling the slight surge as the lift transported him upward. The elevator was based on archaic technology so it took almost a full minute to climb less than an eighth of a mile high, grating on Randolph's nerves. When the doors finally did open, he wasted no time in striding out into a dark, circular room, and stood in the center, waiting patiently.

He quickly glanced at his chronometer and checked that the appropriate hour was at hand. If memory served him correctly, then his employers would appear momentarily.

Proving him correctly, directly in front of him spouted three columns of light. The overhead crystals started to shine and three holographic projections came into being: a salarian, a human, and a batarian. Randolph eyed them all expectedly, feeling more confident than afraid at this point. It was the first time he had been in contact with the entire Coalition brain trust but he had been in the presence of more fearsome maniacs in his life before. Compared to the Illusive Man, these three could have passed for saints.

Randolph did not know any of their names, an aspect he was specifically not privy to, but the fact that their faces represented on the holograms were deliberately darkened made visual identification an impossibility. Their voices had also been artificially lowered, as to protect themselves from anyone recognizing their distinct speech tones. The only one he recognized somewhat was the dark human in the middle, codenamed the Director. He had previously worked for the man in his Cerberus days and moved over when the Coalition was formed months back. It did not matter that the Director was the only member of the Coalition Council that he had spoken to face to face, Randolph knew absolutely nothing about the other man on the end of the line, only that the orders came from him and it was his duty to follow them.

It was the Director who spoke first, "Ah, Agent Randolph, we were just discussing you. Your arrival has been anticipated. What have you found on your mission?"

Randolph did not speak but inserted his OSD with the copied data into the data column next to where he stood. He saw all three summarily look down at their omni-tools as they now had access to the data that he had retrieved as the data was sent over the cloud that was the extranet, using a secure VPN, obviously. He waited a bit for them to properly analyze his findings as he in turn mulled over telling them that the mission had almost been botched because he had to kill a C-Sec officer. He reasoned that that little tidbit was not important after a few seconds. The mission was accomplished in any case and one dead man was not going to hamper any future plans in that regard, hopefully.

The salarian perked her head up, voice scrambler making her sound deeper than usual, "Are you sure that this Rannoch location is accurate, Agent Randolph?"

He nodded confidently, the data giving him the steel to not have his voice waver. "Yes, I am, councilor. I double checked it with similar data points while I was accessing the system. It's apparent that Shepard lives on Rannoch, which makes sense given the fact that his relationship with a quarian was made public. It looks like a secure location, on a heavily guarded planet, perfect for someone who wants to avoid the goings-on of the galaxy at hand."

The salarian nodded, satisfied, "Good, that's good. Your handler here had done an admirable job in convincing us of your necessary involvement. He put in a strong case for you checking up on Shepard and so far I see all he's made you out to be."

Randolph gave a tiny smile in addition to his burst of pride. "Thank you, ma'am," he dipped his head graciously. "But, if I may inquire, why bother checking up on Shepard in the first place when he isn't part of our current schedule at all? Why spend time on him?"

It was the Director who answered next. "It's all a matter of control, Agent Randolph. Your mission was merely a safeguard against our priority action taking place tomorrow. Whatever happens, there's bound to be an investigation rising up from our little demonstration and something this significant might, just might, draw Shepard out of his retirement. It's a slim probability, but we have to take every precaution known to us and analyze any trouble spots before they grow into full-bodied problems."

"Do you really think he's that big of a threat?"

The batarian spoke for the Director, "I have witnessed Shepard's capabilities firsthand, agent. I agree with the human that any chance Shepard could become involved in our affairs needs to be addressed at once. He's a danger to anyone who stands in the way of his moral sensibilities. We might just provide the very motivation for those sensibilities to take over again, potentially threatening our own objectives, therefore the extra emphasis on caution."

The Director nodded, "The man hasn't earned the moniker "Savior of the Galaxy" for nothing, you know. Which is why I'm currently putting you and a select team on standby, Agent Randolph."

"Sir?"

"Well, I trust you had also inserted that little countermeasure I gave you while you were hacking the Citadel's database?"

"Yes, sir. I did." Randolph was starting to get a little confused at the detailing, "Why do you ask?"

"All aspects covered, Agent Randolph. All aspects covered. Like I said before, you're our safeguard. You have put yourself in the optimal position with this system of checks and balances and you are fully capable of making the appropriate move if Shepard decides to involve himself. The task of monitoring him further falls completely to you, I trust you will exercise proper judgment in this case."

"Any parameters to the mission, sir?" Randolph sensed the end of the meeting was at hand and involuntarily straightened.

The Director sighed as he rubbed his temples, partially regretting his decision, but some sacrifices had to be made, even if it was at the cost of a hero. "Lethal force authorized, Agent Randolph. And I feel that I must point out that the members of your new team will have some experimental implants embedded into their system. Regardless of your involvement with the matter, I want you to monitor them closely and record any signs of trouble. Possible rejection, headaches, convulsions, everything."

Randolph raised an eyebrow, "These the latest models from the reverse-engineered artifacts?"

"Precisely so. You will have the full run of the experimental group so make sure to be thorough, agent. We are all eager to hear about what effect these will have on combat scenarios."

"Then you shall have your report promptly. Thank you, councilors."

* * *

Fifteen months prior

_Sweat dripped off his nose as his face approached the floor. He wobbled on his arms, muscles burning from the exertion. Counting silently to three, he pushed off again and rose into the air, grunting as his full strength was utilized._

_Completing the push-up, Shepard held himself in place above the ground, panting hard as he fought the urge to collapse on the ground. To say that his therapy was a challenging endeavor was putting it somewhat mildly. In the past three months, Shepard had gone through several specialized therapists focusing on one area of his body that needed healing the most. The worst of his long and arduous recovery had passed, now he just needed to focus on his stiffened muscles before he could stop visiting this damned hospital._

_Most of Shepard's therapy had basically been taken up by focusing on the severe burns he had sustained while on the Citadel. He had to undergo a series of rigorous stretches while being bandaged like a mummy before he spent fifteen minutes a day in an artificial whirlpool to help treat the burns. Water is an excellent healing agent for burns as it delays progression of the burn while stimulating the damaged nerves so that healing could commence in full. Everything had hurt like hell back during that period and the pain now was not so much different, but it was a new kind of burn, one that left no lasting marks._

_The gym in London was empty at the moment, this kind of regimen did not need a trainer to personally supervise him for this part. All he had to do was go through his usual exercise routine until he could regain as much control of his limbs as possible. The concept sounded easy at first but, after taking his injuries into account, it became a much bigger challenge than previously anticipated. Just the act of doing mere push-ups caused his muscles to quake and tremble as if he had been working out for hours rather than minutes, much to his chagrin. Clearly spending a month tied up in a hospital after getting blown up had deteriorated his stamina quite severely._

_Unfortunately, the person directly across from him did not seem to know or care about that little fact._

"_Come on!" Tali egged as Shepard gasped for breath at the apex of his push-up. "Two more, John! Two more and you're done!"_

"_Easy…for you…to say," Shepard wheezed as he mentally prepared for the next drop. "You weren't…the one…burnt to a crisp…on a space station from hell."_

_Tali clucked as she lay on the ground, hands propping her head up as she watched the lightly scarred human with some amusement and some worry. The medics had advised her to treat his therapy with firmness, as it is a normal reaction from any patient to try and skimp on their workout routine in an effort to save on a few minutes of discomfort. Truly wanting the best for him, Tali took their words to heart, promising herself to not let the man she loved settle for anything less. That, of course, now meant that she had to be a little rough with him but it was kind of fun giving him orders for once._

_Smiling behind her smoky visor, she shook her head as Shepard still was positioned in the air. "No excuses, John. If you could bounce back from actually dying you can bounce back from this. I count two more push-ups, there."_

"_Oooofff," Shepard grunted as his elbows bent, lowering his body once again. Growling a few choice words under his breath, he straightened his limbs and he felt himself rise as what seemed like glass was being ground underneath his joints. Soon enough, he was back in the same position. One step closer to freedom._

"_Only one more," Tali encouraged from her position on the ground. "You're nearly there!"_

"_I'd like…to see you…try your hand…at this crap…once in a while," Shepard muttered through his haze but forced an awkward grin as he shook all over._

_Tali giggled softly, "I'm not sure quarians are built for the kind of calisthenics humans perform, John. Different body structures and all that."_

"_Then…what are…some versions of…quarian workouts?"_

_Tali gave an earnest shrug, "I honestly don't know. It's not something I paid much attention to. Although I'd have to say that all the time I've spent running around with you on your missions, all that running, jumping, and shooting, has been the primary factor of why I have more muscle on my body than most males in my society. I think I can skip the workout."_

_Now Shepard gave a laugh that sounded a choking noise. "I never did like…a woman…with a malnourished look."_

_She reached out and gave his cheek a light swat, chortling, "Quit stalling, you bosh'tet. You've still got one more to go."_

"_Aw, come on…I've done ninety-nine already…that should be enough."_

"_No compromises," Tali asserted, rather enjoying her role as captor in this situation. "But, if it will make you comply, I'll be willing to make a deal with you."_

"_What sort…of deal?"_

"_You finish this last push-up, and I'll let you see my face again."_

_Shepard looked absolutely incredulous through his heavy breathing, "Are…are you joking? You're using that…as an incentive…even though I've seen you…for myself already? That's actually kind of…selfish of you…"_

_Tali shifted on the floor, gazing away from him as she pretended to be distracted, "Well, if you're certain. At least I can say that I tried…"_

_A wrenching yell and a brief bout of staggered pants brought a smile to her lips as Shepard called forth all of his strength to make the final push-up in record time. However, this burst of energy had completely drained him and his limbs gave out, sending him crashing to the floor, breath forcefully expelled as his chest made contact. He lay spread-eagled on the ground as his eyes closed, too tired to continue as he groaned helplessly._

_A shuffling sound near him caused him to open his eyes in response as Tali crawled to where he lay. Without missing a beat after checking to see if no one was looking, she deftly plucked the visor off her helmet, revealing the lovely face that Shepard always saw, regardless of what covered it. Tali lowered her head, smiling in pride, and gave his nose a quick peck, causing new life to flow through him as his lover brought herself close._

_Tali quickly replaced her visor, minimizing the risk of infection as she gently touched Shepard's cheek. "Okay, John. You can get up now. You're done for today."_

_Rolling on his back in relief, Shepard grumbled as he sat up, rubbing his head. Tali helped him to his feet and slowly led him over to the door leading to the small natatorium, where a hot tub sat bubbling in the corner. Stripping off his shirt and shorts, leaving just his boxers, Shepard stepped into the frothing water, gasping as his skin scalded to the high temperatures before it could be naturally regulated. Tenderly and slowly, he slowly lowered himself in so that the shock of being engulfed in boiling liquid would not faze him as much as necessary. Lowering herself to the ground, Tali sat behind John, watching, as he closed his eyes in relief, feeling his tortured muscles tense and gradually relax._

_Tali stared sadly at the plethora of scars on Shepard's back, angry lines that wove a dull pattern into his skin. He had been through so much pain, so much agony, and it was all over for him. Never again would he have an excuse to put his life in another dangerous situation again. He had earned this, all of it._

_As Shepard gradually sank into the steaming liquid, Tali reached out a hand and stroked his scalp, hearing him sigh from her touch. She continued to sit on the edge of the tub as she watched Shepard succumb to total relaxation, letting his body float so that the cool air could waft around him._

_Tali spoke softly so that only he could hear, "Rest, John. Rest, my brave, brave soldier. Rest…"_

* * *

Present Day – Rannoch

The vidscreen opposite to the bed flared with light, illuminating the two figures who sat rapt with attention, gazing into its depths. Shepard and Tali were both propped against the headboard, their hands locked together in a knot as they observed the forms on the screen come to life. Tali was encased in her enviro-suit, as it was one of her days where she could not risk the extra exposure but it did not mean that she was any less expressive, her body language screamed her emotions out loud to him for it was so obvious.

The extranet connection in the house was tuned to the public service channel, reminding Shepard of those APAN (Alliance Public Affairs Network) specials he watched sometimes on the Normandy. This time, the broadcast was a quarian production and the implications of what was going on in the research center portrayed on the screen were far greater and more interesting than the loads of pretentious drabble Shepard had come across.

Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh was currently seen inside a white laboratory, positioned over a still form strapped on a bench, fiddling with her omni-tool's keyboard as she injected a series of final commands. In the corner, a small audience filled with quarians, and some Council races, were sitting on a set of risers as they waited expectedly with bated breath. Shepard could see Admirals Raan, Koris, and Gerrel as part of the audience, seated in the front row. Near the doors to the exit, a pair of quarian marines looked rather tense, their rifles gripped tightly in their hands as if they expected trouble at any moment.

Looking up from her display, Xen acknowledged the audience as she spread her arms theatrically. _"I have finished adjusting the final safety checks on our subject here,"_ she proclaimed, her voice projected into the room, _"And I will now initiate the startup procedure."_

Dropping her hand dramatically on the final key, the figure on the bench began to glow with light as energy began to surge through it. Its head turned slightly to its sides in order to perceive its surroundings. Xen quickly walked over and removed the strap pinning the humanoid form down and it sat up gradually, its body language indicating slight confusion, a very organic reaction.

Gasps and murmurs came from the audience as the form stood on its two legs, its head shining bright. The marines in the corners were noticeably twitching but Xen motioned for them to stay put. Next to Shepard on the bed, he felt Tali's hand squeeze his own in a death grip as she stared at the screen, astonished.

Xen now stepped in front of the form and spoke clearly, "_State what you are_."

The form tilted its head down to acknowledge her, "_Unit 001 has been designated 'Servant of the People,' Creator Xen. We are geth."_

"_Very good,"_ Xen purred. _"And do you know where we are?"_

"_We are currently located on Rannoch's northern hemisphere, five miles southwest of the Rism'ah Sea."_

"_Do you know how we came to be on Rannoch? How you came into existence?"_

The geth dipped its head evenly, _"Per historical logs, Creators chose to ally with the geth during the Reaper War when the Old Machines threatened our existence. All geth were then sacrificed at its terminus to prevent complete annihilation of the galaxy when the super-structure designated the Crucible fired."_

Xen tilted her head cautiously, _"Did you find that outcome to be acceptable to you?"_

The geth did not hesitate in its answer, _"The geth were sacrificed so that others could live. There is no other evidence to imply that another solution would have been more practical to organics. This is a concept we understand and our presence here only corroborates that. If Creators wished to rebuild geth, then it means that they understand us, they understand geth."_

Xen nodded to the geth as she turned back to face the wildly applauding audience. "_Ladies and gentlemen,_" she announced, "_I present to you, the future of Rannoch!"_ Taking a moment to let the applause sink in, Xen waited a moment until it was quiet enough for her to speak again. _"What I have done to Unit 001 here is taken a dormant geth platform and repaired it. But that wasn't all that I did. I implanted, into its memory banks, a complete historical record of the geth's past up until now, essentially making it seem like they never left us at all. This geth remembers everything and it stands before us, an ally and not an enemy."_

A quarian reporter raised a hand and stood when Xen pointed at him. _"You speak of rebuilding the geth networks," _he began in an interested manner_, "But you must recall our bloody campaign we had with them three centuries ago. How can you ensure that this will never happen again?"_

"_Simple_," Xen shrugged. _"Our war with the geth came from us being completely unprepared for the rate at which the geth were evolving as a collective. A distinct lack of understanding our own creations proved to be our ultimate hindrance. We were foolish and naïve at the time when we came to the decision of destroying the geth rather than allowing the geth to grow and continue to manifest. Any future conflict with the geth can be prevented if we do not allow ourselves to be afraid of them. Evolving synthetic intelligence does not necessarily mean that the outcome will be inherently negative and if we embrace that idea, we can achieve a mutualistic partnership with the geth."_

The questions continued for about forty-five more minutes as Xen patiently answered and assured everyone in the room. The geth continued to stand up straight, obedient, as the security guards began to relax in its presence. When the demonstration had finished, Shepard turned the vidscreen off and the image winked out of existence, turning to a stunned Tali as he envisioned her intrigued expression.

Behind her visor, Tali blinked as she slumped downward in amazement. Shepard gave a small chuckle as he thought about the situation. "I guess Xen really did return the geth to their masters after all."

Tali shrugged slightly, "I guess she did. But it's hard to believe that they're already working on the geth networks so soon, with all the rebuilding that needs to be done to the planet."

"You approve of it regardless?"

"I guess," Tali mumbled. "I mean, I don't have much cause to disagree with what they're doing. We've already proved that we can restart technology knocked out by the Crucible already so it really wasn't a question of _how_ we could do it. I could probably understand if some people have reservations about this but Legion showed me and you the value of the geth and I don't think we will repeat our same mistakes again, if we pay attention to history." She gave a quick shrug, "As long as we continue to have an open mind about this, I would expect the geth to become an important ally in a few years' time."

"That's the kind of forward thinking I like to see," Shepard said as he put an arm around Tali's shoulders. "I thought I would be viewed as a murderer by knocking out all synthetic life when I fired the Crucible but now I can see that what I did is slowly becoming undone. In a good way, I mean. For example, we have already seen that AI like EDI and now the geth can be brought back up and running which make me feel so much better about my choice to destroy the Reapers. At the moment, I am massively relieved that I won't be called an instigator of genocide."

"You're just lucky that we had an extensive amount of records detailing EDI's behaviors in her old blue box which meant that she could modify herself back to her original state quite quickly. You just lucked out immensely in dealing with quantum computing."

"Yeah, Joker would have murdered me if we couldn't have gotten her back up and running. But now that the geth can be repaired, this also means that they could still help your people after all, even if they lack the modified upgrades the Reapers imparted on them. Like you mentioned to me once, they can perform construction, assist with colonization, and even improve your immune systems. That sounds like a good enough start to me."

Tali giggled, "I guess the potential benefits far outweighed the dangers in this case. Of course, for someone like Xen, the rewards must have been too tantalizing for her to resist. Who knows, given the rate at how fast the geth adapt, they can become more aware in a matter of years."

Shepard put a hand to his chin as he pondered, "I don't think that the geth would perform any hostilities even at that point since they require organics to give them purpose. _We_ are their reason for them to live." He looked for approval at his partner, "Do you think Legion would have understood what I had to do, Tali?"

Tali nodded earnestly, "I have faith that he would have. He would have said that your choice was…_logical._"

Satisfied, Shepard gave Tali a quick hug in silent thanks before leaning over to pick up his data slate from his desk as Tali did the same thing. Before they went to bed, the both of them liked to take time up to half an hour just reading and enjoying the presence of the other. This way, they never felt truly alone and it made such a simple experience all the more touching.

A few minutes passed before Shepard heard giggling coming from Tali. Glancing over to see what was so funny, he asked, "What are you reading?"

Turning her head in a sly manner, her voice was light as she answered, "Oh, nothing. Except that one publication has released their annual 'Ten Sexiest Men in the Galaxy' edition."

_Uh-oh_. Apprehensive, Shepard waited a bit as he let that sink in before pressing further, "So…what exactly is so funny about that?"

"Well, for one, Garrus made number four."

"You're kidding," Shepard gaped. Tali turned to slate towards him so that he could see properly and was rewarded by a shot of a clearly drunk turian grinning for the camera, dextro beer slopping over the sides of a bottle. Shepard could not resist the silly laughter that erupted from him at the sorry sight, more curious as the fact that Garrus had beat out several other contenders to win fourth place.

Tali was also laughing uncontrollably, clutching her belly as it started to hurt, "I'll make sure never to let that turian forget this. This is just too priceless." She thumbed a tab on her slate and the page was saved to the drive, ensuring that she could torment Garrus later in the future.

Wiping his eyes, Shepard gestured to her, "So who beat out our good friend in the running?"

"I'm getting to that. In third place was…" Tali scrolled down the page a bit, "…Wrex."

"Ha! I bet that old bastard wouldn't even care about this at all. He'd just make a quick comment and change the subject to something more his style."

"Probably," Tali chuckled. "That sounds like something Wrex would do. Blasto came in second place, by the way."

"How can anyone consider that hack of a hanar…" Shepard wondered out loud. "Forget it. Who came first?"

"In first place," Tali cleared her throat, "Is…Commander Shepard."

"Oh, for god's sake," Shepard groaned as he craned his neck, spotting his weathered mug immediately on the screen. He shook his head in disbelief, "Of all the…I don't even have a witty response to that."

Tali laughed, no doubt enjoying his skeptical expression. "I think it's flattering. Knowing I'm about to be wed to the sexiest man in the galaxy in just a matter of weeks gives me quite the boost in self-esteem."

"I'm so glad you needed a shallow tabloid to reaffirm your dedication there, love."

"Only joking, you moron," Tali nudged Shepard in the ribs hard, making him wince.

Shepard scrunched up his face in thought as he adjusted himself on top of the bed, "That reminds me that I'd better make sure the press steers damn clear of our wedding day. I certainly don't like and don't want that kind of publicity for something as private as a wedding. One word on where and when it is and we'll be swarmed until the rest of our natural lives."

"We invited a fair amount of people. The press is probably going to get wind at some point and they'll turn it into a celebrity event."

"Then they'd better stay as far away from me as possible on that day. They're not publishing a picture of me in formal wear if I can help it! Makes me wish that we had planned out the wedding to take place on Rannoch. I never considered the chance involvement of the media at all."

Tali shook her head, "No, no, John. Since we're living here it's only fair that you'd want to be wed on Earth in our _Khela-bond_. Besides, it would have been a tough ordeal having to organize security clearance for everyone here."

He nodded in agreement, "You're right. Perhaps the reporters won't suspect us going to New Zealand for a wedding. They'd probably expect it to happen on the Citadel, most likely. In any case, I don't want my picture appearing in the paper any more than necessary. I'd like to think that I've earned a fair bit of privacy for what I've done."

"Ugh," Tali shuddered, "Now that you mention it, I probably wouldn't like that more than you would. At least I haven't given them the opportunity to see me without my mask. So far, you're still the only one."

Shepard gave a slightly mischievous look as he now tilted his own slate so that Tali could see what he had stumbled upon. "Hopefully it stays that way. It doesn't mean that people haven't tried to get in on the secret, though," he said as Tali raised an eyebrow in a combination of skepticism and disgust.

"What the-?" Tali let out as she looked at the page's title. "_'Guess What Tali'Zorah Looks Like?' _I…I don't even… 'We have asked you to send us an interpretation of the quarian who has stolen Commander Shepard's heart as all of us at the studio are going crazy with what this woman actually looks like…' Are you _kidding_ me?!"

"Oh yeah," Shepard was fighting to not lose himself in hysterics. "Some people have put together a whole collection of what they think you look like." To demonstrate, he flicked his finger over the screen and hundreds of images flew past, one submission after another.

Tali was still shocked beyond words as she reached out to enlarge a particular picture. She squinted at it for a second before regaining her ability to speak. "But…that looks _nothing_ like me! I mean…why is my skin _purple_? Just because my suit is purple doesn't automatically mean that's the color of my skin! Those imbecilic _bosh'tets_!"

Shepard had dropped his slate for he was now practically rolling around the bed in his laughter, almost passing out from a lack of air. Tali retrieved his slate and continued looking through the album in confusion, shaking her head at one image after the next.

"Purple skin…bald…double-hinged jaw…that one looks like me but with silver hair…fangs…pointy ears…" Tali looked up at the human who was now clutching his head as he struggled to quiet himself, speaking mostly to herself, "I mean, it's like no one did any research on quarians in general. Surely there are historical pictures or records of us with grey skin, hair, and similar facial features compared to humans that people can find out there. Why guess?"

She opened one last picture and threw her arms up in frustration. "Okay, this one looks better than the ones I've seen so far, but…" she sighed, "But why is my skin so pale? Why does my hand look like someone chopped the last two digits off of a regular human hand? And why is there an annoying lens flare in the picture?"

Shepard had calmed down enough at this point to look at the picture Tali was referring to. "Oh," he chuckled, "That's because that's actually a human in that picture, Tali."

"What?"

"Oh yeah," he pointed to the hand, "Look at that, the actual hand and the fingers don't line up exactly and the lens flare is just hiding the fact that…uh, 'your' skin is actually tan. It's just a human digitally altered in an attempt to look like a quarian."

"Well," she huffed, tossing the slate away, "That's just the _laziest_ thing ever. Everyone on this site would have had more luck doing a simple extranet search on quarian anatomy rather than waste their time trying to come up with their own version of me that doesn't make any biological sense. It doesn't matter though, those _idiots_ are not getting one glimpse of my face. I'd probably have to kill them otherwise."

"This from the very same woman who chastises me about even thinking of punching reporters," Shepard muttered under his breath but loudly enough so that Tali could hear.

"That's different," she defended, "When you were asked to be interviewed, you didn't have people trying to pry your helmet off your head just to see what you looked like."

"To be fair, you've never had that happen to _you_."

"Well," she stammered, flustered, "Yeah…but…my point still stands."

"It does," Shepard shrugged, "Because all they'd find is a very beautiful woman underneath that mask and not a mysterious creature that everyone else seems to think."

"Do you never stop showering me consistently with affection?"

Shepard put on a face of mock surprise, "Well, if you don't like it, I won't do it any-"

Tali shot her hands out and grabbed his head, turning it towards her so that their faces were inches apart. "I never said for you to _stop_," Tali whispered throatily.

"Stop? Why, Miss Zorah, are you giving me an _order_?"

"Not Miss Zorah for much longer, soon people will call me Tali'_Shepard_. And yes, you _bosh'tet_, that was indeed an order."

He gave a wide smile, white teeth shining, "Luckily for you, Tali'Shepard, that you will have all that and more. Hell, just you wait until our honeymoon on Bora Bora. If I haven't made you the happiest person in the galaxy during that week then I probably could never live with myself."

Tali felt her heart rise as she leaned her visor onto his forehead, stroking his cheeks gently as her smile stretched as far as it could go. "Truthfully, considering how happy I am now, that's not going to be much of a challenge for you." He gave a laugh in relief and leaned in to give her a quick kiss on the side of her helmet. She couldn't feel the kiss itself but the very fact that he did it anyway gave her a thrill, that Shepard continued to act like she never wore a mask, even when the evidence was right in front of his face.

Bubbling with love, she sighed pleasantly until a random thought floated into her head. She mentally stopped as she brought voice to the question. "Wait…why do they call it a honeymoon?"

Shepard opened his mouth as quickly as usual to answer but it simply hung open as Shepard struggled for the right answer. He shut his mouth once he realized that he looked like a simpleton but continued to search his mind for the proper words. Everything failing him, he gave a shrug of acceptance and a nervous little laugh.

"I haven't a damn clue."

* * *

_**A/N: You know what? Forget the delayed schedule in posting chapters. I'm just going to post them when I get done with them as I consistently see several viewers on this site get annoyed when their favorite authors take an unreasonably long time between updates. I'm not promising consistent intervals but more and more of the story will be revealed much more quickly than I originally stated.**_

_**On a tangent: the meta-aspects of this chapter really were fun to write. I'd expect the mood to darken a bit in the next few chapters but I'll still find ways to insert more fluff here. People seem to like it so far.**_


	4. Chapter 3: Dread Intrigue

_Terrorism is the tactic of demanding the impossible, and demanding it at gunpoint._

-Christopher Hitchens

* * *

The bustle of the Citadel's lower wards remained relatively unchanged from when the times were more peaceful, from when the Reaper War had not even started. People of all races and origins hurried along, most with an extra spring in their step as they headed off to their destinations, grateful to be alive. Everyone was engrossed in the routine of their day-to-day activities, having no reason to deviate from their usual pattern, for every new day seemed just a little bit brighter.

The blinking neon signs cast colorful lights along the avenues of the shops near the strip, a relatively fancy location that catered to the station's most elite. Five-star restaurants, casinos, movie studios, the strip had it all. It was not much compared to the spit-and-polish of Illium, for example, but it made do with what resources it had, which was extravagant enough for most people. And right now, the residents were just eating up the chance to wind down after a widespread galactic war. War was a profitable business but some could advocate that immediate peace was just as lucrative.

It was not like anyone had anything to fear anymore. After the Reapers, what could be more frightening to them? No longer did anyone worry about a simple mugger after their wallets (even though petty theft still maintained its prior statistics), no longer did people have to pass through such rigorous security checks for indoctrination (the screeners had been dismantled a few months after the war's end due to budget cuts anyway) and no longer did the shadow of death loom over anyone like a perpetual cloud, waiting to strike.

Perhaps that was why no one paid any mind to the twitching salarian who stumbled out in the middle of the walk, a telltale sign of nervousness of that species. However, people simply walked around him, not looking once at him as he fiddled with something latched onto his chest, underneath his body armor. The salarian could not control the sway of his body as he stood stiffly, and he made no motion to stifle the movement. He involuntarily glanced upward and spotted a camera hanging on the edge of a storefront. That was fine, the salarian needed a vigilant witness in any case.

Scratching at his itching skin, the salarian sighed once as he fished for a small cylinder in his pocket. There was no point in making a drama out of it, this needed to get done with quickly and cleanly. Fiddling with the safety cap, he positioned his thumb over the button and depressed it instantly.

A huge gout of flame burst out in a wide radius from where the thin alien stood, catching several bystanders in the inferno. The deafening noise burst eardrums in the confined area for those more fortunate to escape the searing heat. Smoke formed in the air and people collapsed on the ground as the breathable air left them, the noxious fumes inhaled into their lungs.

Several people were thrown backward from the force that pummeled their internal organs, some suffering massive internal bleeding from the sheer amount of energy that they had just absorbed from the intense explosion. Bones shattered in the wake, limbs separated from bodies, and fire filled the air.

As the tinkle from the shattered glass that the shockwave caused quieted, the screams of terrified citizens replaced it as sirens joined the cacophony.

* * *

"Not the way I wanted to start my week," Bailey groused.

Garrus only nodded as the two of them gingerly tiptoed around the crime scene, not wanting to get in the way of the other detectives and their work. The turian's heart sank in the midst of the senseless violence, who would be so stupid as to do such a horrible thing? Why would anyone attack innocent civilians?

Both Garrus and Bailey had arrived on the scene fifteen minutes after the attack and were stunned at the mass chaos and violence. The area had been cleared of life before they even saw the place but they had to navigate through the thick traffic which delayed their arrival time. At the blast site, both men had been too surprised to follow up for leads when every officer on the station was scrambling to get some semblance of what happened here.

Fortunately, the public access cameras made forensic analysis much easier and within minutes everyone had a clear image of the perpetrator moments before he activated his bomb. This did not make any sense, suicide bombers were not that common amongst the main Council races and this was a sort of tactic only used by the Reapers during the war. As far as Garrus could tell, the salarian did not look huskified to him in the video but he still needed time to properly analyze it for himself.

The entire area of the wards had been cordoned off and for good reason. Broken glass lay near every store for almost a mile down the walk, soot streaked the pristine floor, and a few pools of blood lay coagulating in separate patches. This was not a place for a citizen to lay eyes on, this was a war zone. No better than during the Reaper occupation or the Cerberus coup.

The turian rubbed at his eyes as he fought hard not to look at the smoking crater. "How many dead?" he asked, part of him not wanting to know.

"Seventeen reported so far," Bailey replied tonelessly, "Sixty-three injured, eight of them critical. A lot of severed limbs and burn injuries. Some won't survive the night. Many of them will need reconstructive surgery after this."

"_Spirits_," Garrus breathed. "First the security station and now this. I wasn't expecting a bombing to be the follow up from whoever orchestrated this whole thing."

"I agree, the timing is too coincidental, although there seems to be little connection with the types of attacks caused. One was a hacking attempt all for a phone call and the other was a direct act of terrorism. It's kind of a big leap, but we have to assume there's a link otherwise."

"Any idea how the salarian managed to get a bomb on the wards?"

Bailey pointed to the soot streaked on the ground and the walls and answered in a grave tone, "Probably didn't need to go through security. All of this residue is a common characteristic of a fertilizer bomb, we used to see several cases of this back on Earth. They're simple, messy, and less detectable than what our officers are currently looking for. Cheap and effective, the worst kind of explosive."

"Any idea where someone could get the type of fertilizer used to make explosives?"

The human shrugged, "Just go to any gardening store on the wards. Hell, you can go up to the Presidium and raid the groundskeeper's shed if you were so inclined. Someone has to make sure the plants up there grow quickly and I bet he has more than enough to make a set of these nasty bastards."

"Great," Garrus shrugged. "So we have no motive, no leads, and no clue on where to proceed next. What's the correct expression…_'Up a creek without a paddle?_'"

"Needs a little more profanity but otherwise you caught on quick," Bailey shrugged as he scanned the rubble. "Christ, what a monumental fuck-up."

The turian looked away, trying to draw his attention elsewhere. "I hear you," he grumbled before regarding Bailey more intently. "Well, now that we have _this_ situation on our hands, do you think it would be a good idea to invite Shepard down here and see if he can help a bit?"

Bailey looked confused, "Why the hell are you asking _me_ that? _You're_ the one all buddy-buddy with him. Secondly, why the hell would he come down here at all? This is a crime scene, police work. Last I checked, Shepard wasn't C-Sec, and his presence here would be ultimately wasted. Besides, you told me that he is not interested in setting a foot off of Rannoch. The man values his privacy way too much to get involved in a small, um…comparatively speaking, event such as this. He's a warrior, not a detective."

Garrus shook his head, "No, no, I'm not talking about him taking over forensics. I'm just saying that with the bombing and the fact that a part of his information got hacked only days ago, I would just like to get an official statement from him on the record for you guys just in case we can track down every single lead. I'm just doing this by the book and I would never suggest dragging Shepard out here unless I was out of options. He'll come by for me, he would do anything for his crew. I know that man too well."

"Not trusting us to handle it ourselves, Vakarian?"

"Bailey, a street just got _bombed_. In broad daylight. We don't know if that will happen again in a week, tomorrow, or in an hour. We have no play and we can't let these guys, whoever they are, muster enough time to carry out a second attack. We need to make sure that this one is the last."

"Fine, fine," Bailey relented as they started moving away from ground zero. "How do you want to approach this?"

Garrus activated his omni-tool, orange glow washing across his face. "Well," he began, "If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this _right_. I have a few contacts that are still active on the Citadel on the moment so I'm going to let them on as well."

"Are they known for being discreet and sensitive with security matters?"

"Relax, I'm alerting Kaidan Alenko, Council Spectre, and Liara T'Soni, the former Shadow Broker, both part of Shepard's old crew. I can vouch for them."

"Shit," Bailey rubbed his head, "All one needs to do around here is mention the name 'Shepard' and suddenly a lot of doors are opened for you. Next thing you know they'll be making a religion out of the man for his deeds."

Garrus let out a harsh laugh as they stepped around the corner near the police checkpoint, "Knowing him, he would hate that immensely. I'll make sure to contact him once we get back to the sta-" He stopped talking as a human female sergeant came running up to the pair from behind the checkpoint, eyes frantic behind her HUD.

"Sirs," she said breathlessly, "HQ is on the horn, they say they've just received a message from the perpetrators ten minutes ago." She blinked at the two expectedly, as if she anticipated an immediate response from her superior and a fighting legend.

Instead, Bailey and Garrus took one look at each other and started sprinting towards the awaiting skycar parked in the adjacent lot, barely noticing that they were out of breath by the time they arrived.

* * *

Rannoch

Tali could hear voices coming from the office as she started to wake. She opened her eyes in confusion and squinted in the presence of the morning sun. Her visor was polarized to protect her eyes but the light irritated her all the same. Raising her head, just in confirmation, she saw that Shepard's side of the bed was empty. Well, she _did_ hear noises from the other room so that eliminated any guessing on her end where that human had gone to.

Kicking the covers off herself, Tali yawned and stretched a bit before rising to her feet, hearing the slight _crick_ as her back adjusted. Sighing in relief, she trudged over to the office, forgoing her morning coffee for now as she wanted to see what was up.

The muffled sounds had stopped by the time she opened the door to find Shepard sitting blankly in front of an empty vidscreen, only a record of a recently disconnected call still up. He was dressed in a simple white shirt and a pair of shorts, his hand up to his chin as he pondered intensely. Not wanting to disturb him as much as necessary, Tali grabbed a spare chair and rolled herself over to Shepard's side, causing him to turn in her direction naturally.

He gave a smile that looked somewhat pained. "Tali," he spoke softly, holding out his hand to her, a gesture of love and trust to which she accepted. "Did you have a nice rest?"

Something was bothering him, that much was apparent to her. It was in his strained tone, his stiff body language which indicated this fact. However, she did not feel like prying for information yet. She had learned that Shepard liked to divert attention away from himself for a bit before he started to open up. It was just the way he did things, Shepard needed time to let events sink in before he was ready to share them with others, including her.

"Same as always," Tali answered in a cautious manner but one rapt with attention. "Wonderful."

Shepard closed his eyes at the sound and feel of her presence, finding comfort when she was near. "That's good," he said quietly before gesturing to the vidscreen. "That was Garrus on the other line a few minutes ago, in case you were wondering."

Tali blinked in relief at his motivation to explain things almost immediately. Perhaps he knew how much it hurt her whenever he kept things hidden from her, a sign of true acceptance and understanding.

Her tone was much lighter now, "Garrus? How is that aggravating turian doing? What were you talking about?"

Shepard paused for a beat, "He's…he's fine, Tali. But he wasn't calling to catch up. Someone detonated a bomb on the Citadel just this morning."

Tali's fingers crushed his hand in her amazingly strong grip. "Oh. Oh Keelah…that's…that's _awful_…"

Shepard's free hand scratched the back of his head as he tried not to wince in her clutches. "Yeah, I know. They've got Garrus signed on as a temporary detective and everything. Everyone's distraught."

"I can imagine," Tali slumped, shocked and curious at the senseless violence. "Do…do they know who did it?"

Shepard shook his head, "Yes and no, that's why Garrus called me. He wants me to come over to the station for…for…hell, I don't even know what for. Apparently he thinks that I can help out in some way, but he was rather vague about it. I told him that I'd think about it for a little bit."

Tali was quiet for a minute, mulling things over as Shepard awaited a response from her. With each passing second she was silent, he became more and more concerned, curious as to what her reaction would be to the request.

Tali peered at him intently, "So…what are you going to do?"

"I think you know the answer to that question," Shepard sighed, reading well into his friend's insight.

"I just…I just want to _hear_ it from you."

"People _died_, Tali. They died for some unknown motive and no one has any idea what brought about the need for this sort of violence. And Garrus seems to think that I have the capacity to help in some small way. So why _wouldn't_ I help them? I would want to see these bastards caught just as much as everyone else and if I can provide that lead in whatever capacity, then I need to help however I can. I have a duty, not just to those people, but to my friends. They gave me their all for every time I pushed them during that damn war. In some way, I feel that I haven't given my all for _them_."

"You think you haven't given it _your_ all?" Tali whispered, taken aback, as she abruptly stood. "You…you gave them _everything_! You gave your _life_ for them and you're still worried that you haven't done enough?"

"Tali, I know that you might not want me to go get myself involved in this but-"

"Be quiet for a minute," she interrupted. "I'm not against you getting involved at all, but I need to hear a better excuse from you than this pathetic _'I wasn't good enough'_ speech when you know damn well that you did well enough! _You_ saved us all from destruction, _you_ ended the cycles, _you_ did more than anyone has ever done in all of history _combined_. That is certainly enough!" Her voice was like knives as she incredulously chastised him, his face looking more and more astonished before she calmed down. "Don't try to be a hero for everything, John. Don't try to justify your actions with a misplaced sense of morality."

Shepard hung his head shamefully until Tali's hands cupped his head, fingers running through his beard, and forced it upward so that he was looking into her glowing eyes behind her purple threshold, "Just…just say that it's the right thing to do and I'll understand."

Shepard gave a crooked grin as his already lofty respect for the woman soared even higher, "Yes, ma'am."

"I'm assuming that Garrus doesn't need you to do any shooting, does he?"

"Pretty sure. I've got no reason to be doing that in this case."

"No running, jumping, or any explosions?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, Tali," he said as he winked facetiously.

"In that case," she leaned down to whisper in his ear, "I'm coming with you."

His response was equally as quiet, "I thought you'd say that. _'Wherever you go, I'll be with you,'_ right?"

"Ha!" Tali laughed, "I _knew_ humans could be trained!"

Shepard playfully rolled his eyes as he reached out and tickled Tali's sides, hearing her squeal from his actions. "You little scamp," he grinned, "Now I _know_ asking to marry you was the right choice."

Tali could barely form coherent words in between her gasps and peals of laughter as Shepard continued to mercilessly tickle her, both falling to the ground of the office, "Hahahaha! Oh…_haha!_…_stop it you bosh'tet! _ Hahahaha! You…knew…what…_hahaha!_...you were getting into…_you, bosh'tet, stop!_...in the first place…_hahaha!_"

"Sorry, what was that?" Shepard comically tilted his head, not letting up, "You're going to have to speak a little more clearly there, Tali."

"You…idiot…_hahaha!_ Just you wait…_haha!_...until…"

"Until…? Until what?"

No sooner were the words out of Shepard's mouth when a faint spark jumped between the two. Blue electricity zapped through Shepard for a split second, allowing Tali enough time to push him off and now climb on top of him, the tables turned. Getting her air back, Tali deactivated her overload program on her omni-tool as Shepard blinked in surprise on the ground as if he was just coming to his senses.

Perceiving the quarian lying atop his body triumphantly, he gaped. "Cheater," he grumbled.

"I don't recall you setting any rules beforehand," she replied in as just a cheery tone as he had put on when he had been tickling her, resting her head on his chest.

"I never thought you would use your omni-tool to _electrocute_ me. Jeez, woman, you are a dirty fighter."

"Hey," Tali shrugged, "I won this battle. What does it matter _how_ I won it? And it was only a _tiny_ shock, you wimp."

"You used an extreme amount of force to win the battle," Shepard said from his position on the ground. "Was it really worth it in the end?"

"Of course," she answered cheerily. "_I_ win, _you_ lose."

"But if this was a real fight-"

"Oh John," she sighed and giggled simultaneously, "You can't compare this to real life. This was a _tickle_ fight and I won. Stop trying to make me feel guilty and accept my victory, feeble human."

"_Fine_," he groaned theatrically. "I concede. The fight is yours." He waited a beat before muttering quietly, "_Such modesty…_"

As smug as she had ever been in her life, Tali stood up, bouncing on her toes, before offering a hand to help Shepard up. With a grunt, he rose and was met by a soft hug from the quarian, acting like nothing had happened.

Slyly, she perked her head up. "So, now that you've lost to me in hand to hand combat and to Garrus in sharpshooting, what skills do you have _left_ that can be bested?"

"Wait," he scrunched his brow in confusion, "Garrus told you that he beat me? That damn turian promised to keep quiet about that!"

"I'm so sorry that you were beaten by that dumb turian," Tali said in a low, mocking voice, patting his chest. "But we should start getting ready if we're going to make the next shuttle to the Citadel and _you_ need to put on some appropriate clothes, mister."

As Tali headed back towards their room, Shepard was still unwilling to let the matter die. "If you must know, Tali," he called after her, "I _let_ that dumb turian win."

"That's nice, John," she answered back, uninterested. "Clothes, now."

Flabbergasted, he raised his arms briefly in exasperation before flopping them down to his sides. Hearing Tali already start to prepare her pistol (she never left home without it) and having no other option, he walked over to his dresser to pick out his wardrobe for the day. Anticipating that he might be doing a bunch of walking for the day, he rummaged around in his drawer until he pulled out an ankle brace, strapping it around his bad foot for added stiffness, enabling him a little more stamina.

As she fiddled with her pistol, Tali watched the human get ready out of the corner of her eye. Humming an old lullaby to herself, she gave a small smile as she savored her victory.

* * *

The Citadel – Nine hours later

All things considered, both Shepard and Tali arrived on the station and got past security in a record amount of time, compared to when they had last visited. Of course, that last time, a war had been in full swing and extra precautions had been taken on the station's end. There may have just been a bombing mere hours ago but security was still not as paranoid as when the Reapers were knocking on everyone's front door.

Tali walked hand in hand with Shepard past the stores as they headed towards C-Sec headquarters at a leisurely pace. Her enviro-suit was snugly in place, her trusty pistol at her holster. She clenched the human's hand in a strong grip, feeling him squeeze back in response, a reassuring gesture.

Shepard was dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and a cap, all emblazoned with the Alliance logo. It was not the most inconspicuous of outfits but compared to all of the tabloids with his picture published across every wall, his look combined with his fresh beard made him practically invisible to the majority of passerby.

Of course, there was no way he was going to get around being recognized at the security checkpoint. As his DNA was scanned for his bio-code, the turian guard's mandibles started twitching uncontrollably when he realized that Commander Shepard and Tali'Zorah were standing in his presence, causing him to stumble over his words quite severely. His awe was so resounding that the guard failed to notice that the identity verification was taking a bit longer than normal, as the necessary information was suddenly copied off and transmitted to a remote server, an invisible process unnoticeable to anyone demonstrating laxness in their duties. A stray bit of code had finally activated. Someone somewhere that was not C-Sec now knew that Shepard had arrived on the Citadel, his bio-code now available and accessible for anyone with a connection to the server.

With simply a friendly smile and a wave, Shepard silently acknowledged to the flustered guard that he was indeed the man he thought he was and was immediately whisked through without further hassle. Now that the two of them were through, they were unrestricted to go about their business through the wards. C-Sec was a couple of kilometers away but they felt like walking, it had been some time since the two of them could simply enjoy a stroll through a public area together anyway.

This meant that they were prime to be distracted by any shops that looked interesting to them as they walked through the station. Drawn by Tali's rapt interest (and the fact that she physically pulled him into the store in question) they stopped for a quarter of an hour admiring the weapons display at the local arms dealer. The asari behind the counter was demonstrating the new human-manufactured Kraken assault rifle, the replacement for the Avenger, for a prospective customer.

While Shepard was looking at the rifles, another clerk was assisting Tali as she lifted a modified Paladin pistol up and looked down the sights. These pistols had a better heat diffusion system which meant they could hold double the amount of rounds than the model from a year and a half ago. Tali hefted the gun in her palm and the turian clerk nodded in appreciation.

"You look like you've done this sort of thing before," he said, noting her proper stance.

Tali shrugged as she set the pistol down on the counter between them, finished with her analysis. "Once or twice," she replied.

"Were you planning to purchase that model today, miss?"

"Nah," Tali shook her head as she patted her sidearm, "I'm well accounted for already." She shot a glance at Shepard who smiled as he edged toward the door. "Thanks very much, though," she said to the clerk as the both of them walked outside and into the bustling path, trying to remain focused on the reason why they were here.

In a few minutes, they came across a food court, causing Shepard to make a note of the place. The both of them were not feeling particularly hungry at the moment but he figured that they would be in need of sustenance after they were done at C-Sec. They certainly had a bunch of food edible for the both of them that looked and smelled appetizing.

A noodle joint in particular seemed rather pleasing to Shepard's palate, the doughy scent from the fresh pasta wafting towards his nose. He saw the head chef greet a new patron with a hearty "_Irasshaimase!_" as they prepared to order.

Tali heard the chef as well and tilted her head in his direction. "I've heard that word before," she wondered out loud, "But I can never tell what it means. Is that some sort of human language?"

"Yes," Shepard answered as they headed on, walking at their own pace as he used his free hand to demonstrate while explaining. "It's a word in a language called Japanese. The translators have always been bad at working with Japanese as the language has several words that have no meaning in other languages on Earth."

"So it's the same problem that quarians have with translating Khelish?"

"Exactly. From what I can tell, that word the chef said is something of an honorific greeting. It shows respect towards the customer by treating them as a dignified guest."

"Hm!" Tali exclaimed. "And here I thought that quarians only had this problem with these translators. You think it's a problem that will get fixed anytime soon?"

"Doubtful," Shepard shrugged, "The words that are untranslatable are that way for good reason. There's no right way to properly translate them in a way that all aliens can understand when they are rather esoteric to people speaking the most common language on Earth in the first place."

Tali put her hand to the bottom of her helmet as they walked, tapping at it as she thought. "I guess it would be a big challenge trying to come up for words in the different languages that convey all sorts of these different meanings and inflections."

"I guess that's why I like Khelish so much," Shepard admitted. "When you speak to me and call me _saera_, that is denoting a kind of bond so strong that our language cannot hope to even put into words. That's actually a beautiful concept to me and it makes me a little mad at us humans for being so ineptly blunt in our vocalizations."

"That is true," Tali teased, nudging him in the ribs, "But then, it's always easy to tell what you all humans are thinking with your obvious body language. That and you've never had your face hidden by a visor all the time."

"Hey," Shepard now nudged her, "I've _always_ known what you were thinking, visor or no. You're more expressive than you think."

"Only for you, John. Only for you."

The both of them chuckled lightly as they began to pass by a gaggle of youths sitting on a bench playing a hologame. One of the young men looked up and saw Shepard and Tali pass by them and his jaw dropped in recognition, despite the human's wardrobe. Shepard made sure to wink at the boy before the crowd swallowed the both of them up, anonymous faces in the workflow once again.

Looking up, they saw the familiar red sign that pointed them to their destination and hung a right, traveling up a small flight of stairs and passing by the numerous flashing advertisements that glorified trashy action movies playing at the local cinema or vapid cosmetics that were not interesting in the slightest to Shepard or Tali. Hell, Tali hated makeup as it was, seeing no point in "enhancing" one's own face to make them look attractive. She saw it as a falsification of natural beauty and was very quizzical of why women did this when she first saw advertisements for it. Shepard could not really complain, Tali was stunning enough without a bunch of crap encrusted around her face. She was much too pretty for such deviations.

They now had half a kilometer to go on their walk but the both of them were still full of energy, Shepard's limp almost nonexistent at this point. It actually was not hurting that bad, despite the fact that he had walked almost three kilometers at this point. His ankle was still going strong, no reason to lose his foot now.

A bout of shouting near the observation window drew both of their gazes. Standing on a makeshift platform, a bunch of young men, early to mid-twenties, were waving signs and shouting "_Terra Firma!_" over and over again. Shepard stuttered for a second as he regarded the group, eyes blazing with a fury that he had not felt for a long time.

"After everything the galaxy has done together," Shepard grumbled so that only Tali could hear, "The fact that casual racism like this still exists disgusts me. Do they not realize how much we _need_ each race in order to function as a cohesive whole?"

"They're just being ignorant, John," Tali whispered back. "Don't bother with them."

Unfortunately, that would prove to be an impossibility as the one heading the group turned around and happened to see a human linked arm in arm with a quarian. Revulsion spreading across his features, he hopped off the platform as the rest of his followers trailed shortly behind him. Shepard and Tali kept walking but the human quickened his pace until he stood right in front of the pair, not moving, while the rest of the humans formed a loose circle around them.

Tali gripped Shepard anxiously but he stood perfectly still, eyes lowered dangerously. He calmed and collected his breathing, preparing for the worst but hoping for the best.

The balding Terra Firma leader opened his fat mouth in a sneer. "Yo, buddy," came the grating drawl, "What exactly do you think you're doing?"

"What _I'm_ doing_?_" Shepard answered mildly, noting that he had not been recognized by anyone in this party yet. "I'm just having a leisurely stroll, is that a bad thing?"

"With a quarian?" the man pointed at Tali.

"Yes, with a quarian. She's a good friend of mine."

"Seems to me like she's _more_ than just a friend," the man scowled, noting the still linked arms of the pair.

Shepard fought to keep his voice as calm as possible. "That's because she is," he said evenly. "But is that really cause for _your_ concern in this case?"

"Buddy," the man sadly shook his head, "It _is_ a cause for my concern because I'm a little curious right now. Why are you throwing your lot in with _them_? Why can't you just date a nice human girl like a normal person?"

"Because _I'm_ the one he chose, you _bosh'tet_," Tali spat, all venom. "And I chose him right back."

"Hey buddy," the man sighed, "Why don't you tell the bitch to keep her mouth shut unless she's spoken to."

Shepard disengaged from Tali's grip as he took a step towards the man. His voice trembled as his core temperature shot up, "I'm not your buddy. And you'd better watch that tone there. You would be dead right if it weren't for this woman's actions during the war. Disrespect her one more time and I'll-"

"You'd do what?" the man laughed, throwing out his arms and shoving Shepard back a couple paces, Tali steadying him as he reeled. "Attack me with my guard down? Who do you think you are, _Commander Shepard?_"

Shepard scowled but did not take the bait, instead choosing to control his arm's impulse to snap up and knock the man's head clean off his body. "Why are you doing this? Why are you antagonizing us? We haven't done anything to you-"

"We're just curious to find out why you think that quarians are equal to us. They're not part of the Council, they almost ruined the war for their own petty greed, and you can't even see their faces. What could you possibly find attractive about a suit-rat like –_guh!_"

The man's last word was drowned out in a sea of blood as his nose gushed red liquid, Shepard's fist thrust straight out and snapping the man's head backward. The adrenaline was screaming throughout Shepard so forcefully that the impact made with the man's face only felt like a tap but he knew that his knuckles would be bruised. He was not wearing any body armor to soften the blow whatsoever.

Tali's pistol was out of her holster, a purely reflexive action, as she waved it at the ragged crowd of Terra Firmans. "_Back off!"_ she yelled, taking an equal amount of time to let the sights rest on each individual, keeping them at bay.

Shepard was breathing hard as he looked at the bleeding man on the ground, watching him smile through a mouthful of blood. _Smile!_ In rage, and desperate to wipe that smirk off the man's face, he took a step before planting his foot into the man's gut, creating a horrid cough in response.

Blood sprayed across the ground as the man wheezed but there was still a slight giggle embedded there. Furious, Shepard kicked at the man's chest, feeling bones snap as the kinetic energy transferred from his moving foot into the man's ribs. Tali was staring at Shepard in shock but too startled to say anything as she went back to figuring out how to control the crowd, who was starting to get rowdy as their leader was getting pummeled.

Shepard was incensed but the man was still chuckling while bleeding all over the ground. Frustrated, he shot his foot out one last time and it caught the man in the forehead, finally knocking him out as he slumped to the ground.

He had little time to observe the result of his actions for Tali grabbed him by the shoulder and started to lead him away. People in the background were starting to stare and Shepard was still seething. However, he submitted himself fully and let Tali guide him to a safe haven, the Terra Firmans were cautiously approaching but stopped as they huddled around their unconscious leader.

Once they were out of sight, Tali pushed Shepard in a nearby alley as he finally realized the magnitude of what he had done, his breathing becoming more irregular as tears started to come to his eyes.

"Oh…oh god…what did I just do? God…god _damn_ it…why…why did I do that?"

He backed up to the wall and slid down it, trusting the shadows to keep him obscured from any curious folk. Tali followed his downward descent and held him tightly as he clutched onto her as well, both wrapped tightly in that alley.

Tali did not bother chastising him, Shepard knew what he did. It was a decision made on impulse, an imperfect reaction from an imperfect human. No one was completely infallible, not even John Shepard. Perhaps that man had gotten what he had deserved, perhaps it had been too much. Whatever the reason, it had been done with the best intentions.

His head nestled in the crook of her neck, Shepard sniffled, "I…I _hate_ that word…it's…it's just an unacceptable thing to say to someone like you…"

Tali smiled, completely understanding as she started to stroke Shepard's head, calming him down. "Shhh. It's okay, John. I hate that word too."

He drew her body closer to him in a tighter grip, "One day…one day things will be different…"

"They will," she promised. "But you can't solve all your problems just by beating up people."

"I know," Shepard mumbled, "That was the…the first time I did such a thing like that." He searched for what to say next, breathing in and out deeply, "I…I don't ever want to do that again."

They continued to grasp each other until his shaking subsided, waiting until everything had calmed down until they could press on, their excursion now marred by that unfortunate encounter. As they continued, their hands remained linked, their odd digits finding the perfect grip as they walked together towards the awaiting doors at the end of the hall.


	5. Chapter 4: Not Purely a Social Call

_Every man at the bottom of his heart believes that he is a born detective._

-John Buchan

* * *

Shepard winced as he stretched his fingers, the bandage adjusting to his hand as his knuckles continued to ache. Tali, sitting next to him at the table, shook her head slightly, partly in exasperation and partly in sadness, as she observed his wince of pain, watching him clench his hand as if that would shut it out his discomfort. The flesh underneath was badly bruised but Shepard, hat now off, continued to wear a stoic look about him, as if he had not recently smashed someone's nose straight back into their head.

The both of them were now deep inside the headquarters of Citadel Security, occupying one of the offices that overlooked the lobby, Commander Bailey's newest location. The C-Sec commander was in the room at the moment, sitting to the side and staying out of the way when Garrus arrived to greet his friends.

Immediately after the two had finished their brotherly embrace, the turian noted that Shepard's hand was bleeding somewhat fiercely and had an aide run off to procure a bandage. Garrus was not going to ask where the injury had come from anyway, seeing as there was a recent report of some Terra Firman idiot getting his ass kicked not half an hour ago and now Shepard shows up with fresh marks on his hand. No detective training was needed to put two and two together. Besides, Tali would have done the scolding for him, if she had done any at all. It just was not the turian's place to do the chiding when the human had a fiancée that worried about him every waking minute, for good reason apparently.

To Shepard, the turian looked a little worn-out, as if he had not been sleeping well. There was a slight tiredness behind his eyes, one look comprised of a vague acceptance but a tiny bit of horror all the same. Shepard had not seen Garrus this strung out since the war, and it had taken the man a long time to get to that point in the first place, recalling the endless battles, fighting against husks on deserted planets waiting for evac. Either that, or the petulant vidscreen that refused to show whatever Garrus had to present was causing his frustration at the moment. The turian could not work with simple technology to save his life.

Shepard glanced for a moment out the window, watching the nearby elevators zip up and down the lobby. People were bustling down below, hurrying all around in the expansive center while he was stuck up here for some nebulous purpose. He was wondering what was taking Garrus so long to get to the point but his question was answered as the door to the hall opened and two more people swiftly strode in.

He rose eagerly, Tali included, as Kaidan Alenko and Liara T'Soni walked towards them. Shepard locked hands with the Council Spectre before getting gently embraced by the asari. Disbarring Liara, who physically aged much more slowly than humans, Kaidan looked a tad bit older and a little weary, but his glance let slip a glimmer of confidence that Shepard had not seen from the man thus far. A far cry from the fresh-faced lieutenant he'd been accompanied with since the maiden flight of the Normandy. At least the both of them seemed a bit happier than before, recent events notwithstanding.

Breaking out of a tender hug from Liara, Tali exclaimed in delight, "What are you two _doing_ here? It's so good to see you!"

Garrus coughed near the back as he continued to fiddle with the vidscreen controls on his omni-tool, responding in lieu of Liara, "They're here because I asked them. I thought that we could use a little more grey matter for the brain trust at the moment."

Shrugging as Garrus had technically been correct, Kaidan supplemented, "I'm here with the Council's permission. They want one of their own agents working with the investigation due to the relative proximity of the attack. Everyone's a bit on edge with this whole incident taking place on the Citadel after the war has ended."

Shepard blinked, "I can imagine. The Citadel hasn't seen fighting like this since the coup. But you're not offering to take over the entire case, huh Kaidan?"

"Yeah," Bailey barked from behind, "Fat chance of that happening. I'd eat my own shirt if it came to the Council shutting C-Sec out of something like _this_."

"Keep calm, Bailey," Kaidan assured, "I don't know crap about police work so exercising my jurisdiction for something like that would be too detrimental in this case."

"Good," Garrus called as he pounded at the omni-tool's keys in agitation, "We've got enough on our plate in terms of trifling inconveniences in this case."

Liara rolled her eyes, ignoring Garrus, "And I'm here because I still have some contacts from when I was the Shadow Broker. Garrus hoped that I would catch something through them but so far I've managed to come up with nothing on my own."

Liara had disbanded the network of the Shadow Broker not long after the war had ended. Because there was no further use for someone of her expertise and because she was getting strung out managing a huge and structured organization by herself, she had felt it best to just simply let it all dissolve. It appeared to be for the better because the asari looked much more relaxed than when he had seen her last. Writing her book must have been the perfect antidote for her stress after the war. It certainly seemed to have done her some good.

"How's Javik doing, Liara?" Tali asked.

The asari nodded thoughtfully, "He's doing well. Right now he's making a lucrative career guest lecturing at some of our universities on Thessia, when he's not being constantly bombarded by requests for interviews, that is."

"I'll bet he's enjoying that," Tali chuckled cheerfully. "After all, he is the last of his kind and there are still so many questions to ask. Not to mention the fact that _you_ were the first one to publish Javik's exploits, after all. Which reminds me, how's the book going in sales? I haven't checked its progress in weeks."

"Still in the top ten of the bestseller lists," Liara glowed. "I've even collected enough material to do a follow-up, if Javik isn't too burned out by the end of the year. I kind of don't want to be known as the one researcher who killed the last Prothean by asking him too many questions. That would cause me to lose a lot of goodwill."

"Well, at least he's taking it easy," Shepard shrugged. "I certainly wouldn't want him to be bothered by an event like this. He would think it beneath him."

"He _might_ accept," Tali pondered, "After calling us all _'stupid primitives'_ a few times, though."

"_Aha!_" Garrus crowed from the corner, "I got you, you little sh-"

The whole group wheeled to see the vidscreen suddenly flare to life as a silhouetted form now filled the borders of the screen. Encased in shadow, it was impossible to tell what race this person was and where it was being broadcast from as the background was rather nondescript. Garrus moved over to the back to let the others see as the shadow began to speak, a smooth voice issuing from the speakers.

"_-e deeply regret the dramatics of our demonstration but recent history has given us a precedent on how to gain the attention of the corrupt institution known as the Citadel Council. For too long our civilizations have languished under your guidance, for too long your misguided intentions have brought us to the brink of destruction. It is only through sheer luck that you all still draw breath, for if it weren't for the involvement of the human you refused to trust time and again, you would have ended up as a pawn for the Reapers, a slave to their will."_

Everyone was transfixed as the deep voice continued, _"This small spark was merely the starting stage of a wildfire, one that consumes all in its path. The councilors are not infallible, as Shepard has proved, therefore the institution is not infallible. We do not purport to be infallible but have been more upfront with you than you have ever been to your own citizens. If you would constantly endanger the lives of trillions, so be it, but know that we will no longer be a part of your misguided rule. Consider this act the official secession from the Citadel Council in what is now the Galactic Coalition. You will recognize our status as a separate entity, or we will start many more sparks on many more worlds. You have a week until the fire starts to spread. For the pursuit of the truth, for the need for righteousness. For the Coalition."_

Garrus shut the vidscreen off as everyone shared concerned looks from around the room. The turian stood in front of the group as he sighed, "This vid was released privately and anonymously through a secure server containing all of this 'Coalition' crap. We haven't made this public yet so all of you will need to keep this down for a while. The Council quietly issued a statement this morning condemning the actions of the Coalition. They unanimously decided that they will not recognize it as a legal entity in any manner, which could complicate things real fast if this group isn't bluffing."

Kaidan shuffled, "Did they have any demands when they released this video?"

"They requested that all Council races disband all colonies in the Shadow Sea as that is the portion of space they indicated to be left alone for their purposes."

Shepard tapped his fingers on the desk, "So, if the Council is not going to acknowledge the Coalition, what are they going to do?"

"At the moment, nothing," Garrus admitted. "They're still frantically trying to pursue leads however they can. You all happen to be comprised of whatever slim lead we have on anything right now. Hell, we don't even have a clue on who runs this Coalition at all, let alone the kind of numbers they have in troops alone."

"So what is going to stop them from detonating another bomb elsewhere? And who says it has to be a suicide bomber, what if they get a hold of a dirty bomb? Is the Council taking _that_ into consideration?"

Trying to separate himself from Shepard's agitation, Garrus glanced at Bailey for assistance, who stepped forward, "The Council has given the statement that they do not negotiate with terrorists and that any effort to compromise with the group would be a futile exercise. Their words, not mine. Long story short, it's only a matter of time before we hear about the next place hit on the evening news."

Liara leaned over the table and hissed, "That is _unacceptable_. You're telling me that the Council doesn't care if another planet is bombed next? Not even if _Thessia_ could be the next target?"

"Look, Doc, I'm pissed about this matter too. How do you think _I_ feel, knowing that Earth could be in the crosshairs of a couple of insane freaks? Shit, _all_ of your worlds are endangered now at this point so I'm guessing that the councilors thought that the widespread risk could offset their consideration for a time. Just my initial hypothesis."

"Of course," Liara flushed, "You're right. I'm sorry I snapped at you."

Tali tilted her head, "Something still doesn't add up. We don't even know what kind of races this Coalition is made up of as the bomber was shown to be a salarian, but the salarians are part of the Council. Why is that?"

"I have an idea," Garrus drawled, fiddling with his omni-tool. "But none of you are probably going to like it." Pressing a few buttons, an enlarged image of the perpetrator, moments before he activated his explosive device, was projected up onto the screen for all to see. The image had been enhanced so that the detail was clear and crisp with little room for interpretation. Even so, Shepard had to squint at what Garrus thought was so odd before his eyes widened in recognition.

Tali had also come to the same conclusion, "His face…"

The salarian's face was aglow by white lines running all over it. These were similar to implants that many galactic races had embedded into them whether for scientific or military purposes. However, the majority of these implants were invisible, hidden under the skin so that no one could notice them. That was not the case here, vein-like trails of light were blazing a branch over the alien's body. The one time any of them had seen implants like that glow was during the last war, come to think of it.

Kaidan nodded, "Yeah, something seems funny about them."

Shepard took a few more seconds to look before grimacing, "They remind me off the exposed implants whenever the Reapers possessed a form. You think this is some kind of indoctrination at work?"

"That was Vakarian's initial assessment as well," Bailey gestured to the weary turian.

Garrus shrugged in a somewhat modest effort before explaining, "The theory does make a convenient amount of sense. The glowing implants, the twitching motions, the glazed eyes. This could very well be some type of indoctrination at work.

Shepard shook his head, "That doesn't make any sense. The type of indoctrination we have all been exposed to was a Reaper concept, based on natural technology that the Leviathans created. We all know that the Reapers are gone, because I killed them, but these white implants are something that I haven't seen before."

"True," Liara offered, "So that rules out any Leviathan involvement as they don't require the use of implants for indoctrination. Those spherical artifacts we witnessed were the key to that kind of control and there was no record of any of those near the blast site here. Also the video corroborates my analysis as the figure speaking was too lucid, too expressional, compared to the monotone inflections that indoctrinated agents normally possess."

Tali shuffled in her seat, "So it could be some kind of new technology, one that might allow for temporary control which explains the salarian's shifty behavior-"

Garrus pounded the desk, making the loose papers billow from the blow. "We can't afford any speculation at this point," he growled. "We need facts and we need them fast otherwise there might be a new crater adorning one of our planets quite soon."

"Garrus," Kaidan shrugged, "Speculation's all we've got at this point. We don't have enough evidence to create a solid lead-"

"Then _help_ me! Work with me, all of you, and together we can eliminate this threat once and for all before any more people get hurt!"

Shepard finished running a hand through his beard as the turian's words reached his head. "When you say '_eliminate_,'" he tilted his head cautiously, "To exactly what are you referring to?"

The turian blinked, his mandibles twitching in surprise, "Why, I mean we can work as a team again. It will be just like the old days, us swinging the biggest stick in the room and no one being able to stand up to us."

Tali nervously scooted closer to Shepard's side, "Are you saying…that you want us to put ourselves in harm's way again? Have us just grab our guns and armor and relive the glory days one last time?"

"Yes! That's exactly it!"

Tali's arms wrapped painfully around Shepard's, a faint squeezing noise coming from her enviro-suit as her grip clamped down hard. "_No_," she forcefully shook her head. "Absolutely not."

Garrus seemed taken aback, as did Kaidan and Liara. "_What?_" the turian managed. "I thought you would have jumped at the chance-"

"The answer is _no_, Garrus," Tali snapped. "I can't believe you're seriously asking for us to risk our lives again for a fight that is barely even ours to finish. We're the least qualified people in this case and you want us to jump back into that fire when we all thought we would never go through something like that again? How could you find it in yourself to ask this of us?"

The turian looked back at Shepard, his expression lost as he raised his hand to his friend. "Shepard…I…"

Shepard sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before acknowledging Garrus. "Tali's right," he slumped, feeling her hand squeeze in assurance on his arm before he patted her hand gently. "There's no reason for me or any of us in this room to go out and risk our necks for a cause such as this."

"B-But you saw the vid, you saw what the Coalition was planning to do-"

"And how can we possibly stop them right now?" Shepard barked. "There's a chance that they might be bluffing but there's also a chance that they're not, I realize. If I could do something about it right now, I would, but we have nothing to go on. No clues, no leads, nothing. I'm no cop; there is no reason for me to get involved in this at all."

"But I even talked to the Council and the Alliance beforehand! They're willing to temporarily grant you Spectre status again and the Alliance would loan you the Normandy-"

"That's nice, Garrus, but that won't be any good to us without a proper _lead_. I have a _life_ now. I have a house and I'm about to get _married_, Garrus." Shepard felt Tali tremble through him at that as he continued, "I can't just run out the door whenever someone needs me to resolve a dispute when I have people who count on me to stay with them. I've seen too much conflict to get properly motivated in this case. I'm just too _tired_ of fighting anymore. I'm sorry, my friend, but I'm with Tali on this one. My answer is also no."

Abruptly, he stood; Tali close by as the both of them pushed their chairs in sadly. Kaidan and Liara moved out of the way to let them through and allow their access to the door to go unimpeded. The sight of their former commander walking away from a potential fight had completely sapped their ability to voice an objection. Smiling sadly, the both of them shook everyone's hand once, trying hard not to look too long at the downtrodden turian in the corner. The sight was too heartbreaking for them to witness.

Before they walked into the hall, Shepard turned back to Garrus one last time, seeing him tilt his head upward in slight interest. "If I ever change my mind, my friend," he called, "I will let you know as soon as possible."

Without waiting for a reply, he let the door shut behind them. Their meaning was clear, but their consciences, for some reason, were not.

Arm in arm, Shepard and Tali walked back towards the docks in silence, each contemplating the merits of their decisions, wondering if they made the right choice this time.

* * *

The alert on his omni-tool pinged a second time in the last two hours. Randolph swiped out of the lock screen and peered at the alert, eyebrows arching in interest.

It said on the screen that the tracking software had registered Shepard leaving the Citadel and embarking on a shuttle back to Rannoch that was due to leave in the next thirty minutes. Him and the quarian both. Excellent.

At first, Randolph had been skeptical about inserting the tiny software patch into the Citadel's systems that one night but it had proven to be quite useful to him at the moment. Just as the Director claimed, the actual process was using such a tiny chunk of power that no one in C-Sec had detected its use so far. Now it did not matter anymore for its purpose had been fulfilled. Real-time updates were sent to his tool whenever his target passed a security checkpoint, requiring the servers to lift the target's information and codes in order to properly access the station. Based on the fact that the target had checked onto the station mere hours ago, this new update seemed to indicate that he was heading home back to Rannoch, but that was not all he had found out.

Double clicking the travel information, he could see Shepard's bio-code properly displayed on the screen. The key to Rannoch itself. With this, he could access that heavily guarded planet any time he wanted now. The bio-code was a specially designed signal that is meant to be sent over radio waves, matching certain biological information to grant access to sensitive areas. Now that Shepard's bio-code was in his possession, he now had the ability to skirt past the blockade over Rannoch and make it down to the surface with no hassle whatsoever.

But that was only the first obstacle removed. There was still a bigger one in the way, one that required a less deft touch. An obstacle that fell under Randolph's _modus operandi_ anyway, which made him anticipate the upcoming assignment all the more so. Randolph, wasting no time, stood from his desk and marched over to the barracks, anticipating addressing the five hardened killers awaiting his orders at the moment. Their moment of glory was at hand.

It was time to go on a hunt.

* * *

_**A/N: This chapter may have been a little on the short side but there was no other place to put this scene without making another chapter seem too bloated or to have the tone spiral in several different directions.**_

_**Some interesting things to happen next, though. ;)**_


	6. Chapter 5: Homefront

_The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned._

-Maya Angelou

* * *

Rannoch – Nine months prior

"_Oh Keelah, John!" Tali exclaimed as they walked upon the tiled floor. "It's…it's incredible!"_

"_You like it?" Shepard grinned as the door automatically shut behind them, letting the cool air of the interior brush around them and protect them from the searing heat of the Rannoch day._

_Tali's head was swiveling in all directions as she appraised every single detail in her line of sight. "I…" she stammered, at a loss for words, "I love it!"_

_Shepard clasped her hand gently but firmly as she gazed around the room, breathless. Deep down, he felt a flare of pride inside him at the wonder that she was currently feeling._

_Not two days ago, Shepard had gotten a notice from the construction organization that they had completed the house that both Shepard and Tali had designed together while Shepard had still been recovering in the hospital. Right after the war had ended, the quarians had immediately set up several such institutions delegated to the process of rebuilding Rannoch and one such organization was delegated to civilian housing. Being people of great important to the entire war effort, their house was one of the first to be started and was one of the first completed. Of course, the builders had to make a few tweaks to the established design as the two did not have the first clue about structural engineering in the first place but the finished floor plan looked remarkably close to the initial concept, surprisingly. Regardless, with that in mind, they had immediately set off from their temporary housing back in London to go and check out their permanent residence, eagerly wishing to lay eyes on it._

_It stood by the bay, just a few miles from where Shepard brought down the destroyer all those months ago, two stories high with a stone face, sturdy and ready for all the elements. For all intents and purposes, the house was essentially complete; it was already hooked into the transformer down at the main quarian colony, as was the water main, and an extranet connection to boot. All that was left was to procure some furniture and domestic items but that could be done in a gradual process much later._

_The whole process of designing the house was facilitated by Tali's friend, Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbey. She knew that the both of them were looking to procure property on the quarian homeworld and she directed them through the proper procedure for getting their establishment constructed in a timely manner, as there was quite the waiting list from the populace. It was not like Shepard was in any shape to do any of the building himself, considering the extent of his injuries, but he was eventually convinced that there was no shame in letting someone else do the heavy lifting for once. Now that they were inside the finished product, Shepard reasoned that he would most likely have done a worse job than the professionals. Even he could be talked down once in a while._

_They walked through the expansive kitchen, passing by the walled in garden near the entrance as Shepard smoothed a hand over the granite surface. He watched Tali fling open the nearest door, eager to peer into its depths and smiled at her insatiable curiosity. This whole ordeal was quite a leap for the quarian as she had never had a home to call her own before. On the flotilla she had only a bunk to sleep on for years in a cramped room the size of a closet. Even on the Normandy she considered his cabin to be ostentatious compared to her previously simple lifestyle. Now she had an entire house for her to fill things with, causing her to be very overwhelmed at the moment. _

_Spotting a walk-in cupboard, Tali stayed inside for a moment as if she was imagining how she was going to fill all the shelves before bouncing in place and running to the next door. _

"_Look, John!" Tali beckoned to her fiancée. "I can have that workshop for me to tinker with, just like we planned!"_

_Workshop was perhaps an understatement. It was a full-bodied garage, with enough room to fit two skycars plus change. The rough concrete floor was flat enough for Tali to set together a couple of workbenches and some organized shelving. Out of all the rooms in their new house, this one had the most potential._

_Shepard walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her thin waist, feeling the sharp bones of her hips rest on the bottom of his limbs. "Nothing but the best for you," he whispered softly, nuzzling the back of her head with his own._

_Tali almost swooned in place but she was grateful for the kindness. She reached up over her shoulder so that she could gently touch the human on the cheek. "You spoil me too much, you know that?"_

"_Spoil you?" he questioned in a light tone. "I don't consider this to be spoiling you as you've deserved to have a house of your own for your entire life. You've earned this. Besides, who wants to live in an apartment for the rest of our lives?"_

_She giggled as she broke from his grip, standing in the middle of the room and gesturing to a wall, "I can…I can put so many things here! I…I will be able to have my own workbench, have my own tools, make whatever I want to make…" She was breathless as she turned back towards Shepard, "John…I can do whatever I want in this room!"_

"_And that's the point," he grinned as he took her hand and led her back into the foyer. "We don't have any obligations any more apart from each other. We're free to do what we want now."_

_Tali was on the verge of jumping for joy like a schoolgirl before catching the nearby stairwell in her eye. Eager to see more, she ran over to it, Shepard following closely behind. Reaching the top, she spied another room off to the side, one that was most likely going to be used as an office. She turned fully before stopping in place and letting everything sink in for her._

_In the middle of the carpeted floor sat a lone bed, the one addition that Tali and Shepard had procured so far, a set of sheets laid carefully on top of it. She walked over to it, depressing the padded surface with a gloved hand, seeing the imprint of her hand slowly fade as the foam bounded back to its original shape. All the while, the blinding light from the window reflecting off the water of the ocean nearby caused her to squint even through her mask. The window was actually a door that led out to a balcony and to have this spectacular view, of the sea and the cliffs and the brilliant sun, was a luxury that she could never have believed in her lifetime. The picturesque magnificence that was just outside the home…her home… was beautiful…so beautiful._

_It was all hers now…_

_Tali slowly backed up until her bowed calves hit the bed. Looking behind her for a second, she lowered herself down to the comfortable surface, her hands gripping the sides of the mattress as she continued to gaze outside._

_Her head seemed to be getting heavier as she consciously noted that it was starting to tip downward in a daze. A warm feeling soon imparted on her cheeks as she now realized that she was crying. She felt embarrassed at having to open up like this but she could not stop the floodgates from closing as more and more tears fell in earnest, making way for her arms to start shaking violently as she tried to sob as quietly as possible._

_Any efforts to disguise this fact from Shepard were for naught as he was immediately by her side, alarmed, as he made to wrap his strong arms around her, carefully lowering the both of them down on the bed so that she was lying atop him, trying to control her irregular breathing as her chest gasped and heaved in a torrent of emotion. Observantly, he said nothing, understanding the significance of her tears, of her relief at a satisfying conclusion._

_Rubbing her back, he waited a bit before mumbling quietly, "Shh, it's all right. It's okay, Tali. It's okay…"_

_Taking a ragged breath, she mustered the strength to nod. "Yes, John. No, I'm fine…I'm just…overwhelmed at the moment."_

"_Take your time, then. We will have a long while to adjust. This is our home now, forever."_

_She tapped her fingers on his chest as she felt herself calm down slightly. "It's just," she began, unsure of where to go, "This was the sort of thing that my father promised me for so long. When he died, I thought that the prospect of a house on the homeworld died with him. And now look, I'm lying in his dream come true."_

_Shepard took her fragile hand and gently kissed the palm. "I did tell you that I was going to keep your father's promise for you."_

_Tali shook her head firmly, "It became your promise when we chose each other. And you kept it. John…you actually kept it."_

"_You know me, I hate to disappoint."_

_She embraced the human tighter as they lay upon the bed, feeling their bellies rise and fall from their shared breathing, the soft motions causing Tali to promise to herself never to let go of him for her life depended on it. _

_Clutching her eyes tightly, she moved on to the other elephant in the room. "What are you going to do now?"_

"_Beg pardon?"_

"_I mean," Tali almost croaked, "Do you know when you're going to be redeployed? You're a commander of the Alliance after all and…and I think that you've healed enough for them to rightfully call you back, so…"_

_He gave a low chuckle, "What, Tali? Trying to get rid of me so quickly?"_

"_No!" she gasped, shocked and hurt that he was deliberately avoiding the question, causing her more seconds of pain as she awaited an answer. "I was just wondering…if you were thinking about it after all…"_

_Demonstrating his acute ability for sensing what she desired, he smiled, "I hadn't forgotten, Tali. I only received my new orders just days ago but I wasn't sure of how to tell you…"_

_There it was. It was out in the open. Tali willed herself not to cry further but she was still annoyed that the human was behaving more flippantly than she had imagined. After all, he was technically well enough to go back to active duty and it would most likely be in a command position, separating her from him for who knows how long. They may have been engaged but what good was that when the man she loved would potentially be halfway across the galaxy from her? How could he act like this in front of her, all calm and collected?_

_Fighting to hide his grin, he shrugged as he felt her body instinctively tense on top of him. "You know what?" he wondered out loud, "I'll let you read the orders for yourself. No secrets shared between us."_

_Opening his omni-tool, he tapped in a few commands and soon after, Tali saw her own tool light up with a received message. Curious and cautious at the same time, she flicked to the messenger app and opened the file. It looked like Shepard had made a copy of his orders straight to her for her to peruse at her leisure, sent by Admiral Hackett no less. Eyes tracking the words on the page, she unconsciously began reading out loud._

"_Dear Commander John Shepard, all of us at FleetCom are saddened to hear of your recent decision but unanimously feel that your reasoning remains sound. To celebrate this much-needed transition, your resignation has been approved and-"_

_Tali kept reading for a few lines until she comprehended what she just said aloud. "WHAT?!" she shrieked happily, whirling to face an openly smiling Shepard._

"_Well," he shrugged mildly, "I told you that I had no obligations any more. It was a simple choice between the fleet and you. I don't know, do you think I made the right choice?"_

_Her heart was rising back to its original position and she gaped for a few seconds before electricity shot through her as she suddenly pounced on her unsuspecting prey. Tali began laughing while her tears fell anew, catching at the bottom of her helmet as she began to lightly slap him in the face._

"_Ow!" he playfully cried between blows. "Ow, woman, that hurts!"_

"_You…" Tali half-growled, half-sobbed, "You…idiot! I thought you were actually going to be deployed!" Abruptly ceasing her assault, she grasped at the clasps of her helmet, frantic to remove it. Damn the consequences, this was more important. Tossing it to the side, she barely allowed Shepard time to breathe before she planted her lips over his and stole his breath away again in a fierce kiss. _

_Breaking off for a second, she panted as his hand caressed her steel-grey face. "Don't…" she shook her head ever so slightly as her eyes watered, "Don't ever scare me like that again, you bosh'tet."_

"_I don't know," he replied mockingly. "I kind of thought that it was…totally worth it?"_

"_Oh, you imbecile," Tali laughed before kissing him again instead of striking him, feeling him surrender into her grip as her tongue slid out to meet his, closing her eyes as the erotic sensations passed through her. _

_Ancestors, Tali thought to herself, he can be so aggravating sometimes but…I love this man. I love him so much._

* * *

Rannoch – Present Day

Randolph hefted the Valkyrie, checking to see if it was loaded to the brim on thermal clips before proceeding up the path. It was approximately four in the morning, if Rannoch's hours were to be compared to Earth hours. An ideal time for a night op as the sky was as dark as it could possibly be at this point. The sound of his and his squad's boots trudging along the dusty floor made only soft crunching noises as they beat granules of sand further into the ground.

His skin was itching again but there was nothing he could do about it now. No matter how many times the docs said the feeling would pass with time, the implants still continued to irritate him so. It had been almost a month since his upgrade, why had they not stopped itching by now? It was not like he could take off his loose helmet and go to town right now, he was in the middle of a critical mission and could not afford a moment of hesitation by scratching an unceasing itch.

Reaching the planet's surface had been a relatively easy endeavor for the six of them, thankfully. Crammed onto a small ship provided by their illustrious benefactors, the quarian blockade only took a minute to register the appropriate bio-code that the vessel was registering. It was fortunate for them that the quarians had become somewhat relaxed in their containment procedures regarding their homeworld as there had never been a legitimate excuse for the blockade in the first place. It was only that the quarians were just going through the motions of actually possessing a world to call their own once again that the extra security was considered a necessity at first. This blockade was actually their idea of employing harsher methods as part of a show to let everyone see that no one would take Rannoch away from them ever again.

As such as gesture was technically more symbolic than they let on, the need for constant and coherent communication was not high on the priority list for the quarians right now. As the bulk of them were concentrated on continuing to rebuild their world so that they could live suitably upon it (and eventually for the geth as well) many of the ships had simply resorted to accepting ships with appropriate codes and nothing else, not bothering to keep a record of who entered the planet's atmosphere and when. If they had, then they would have seen that John Shepard would have approached Rannoch twice within a day, but without leaving between those two times.

Randolph had landed the craft half a kilometer away from the house, switching to night vision after all the external lights of the ship had been extinguished. All six of them were heavily armored, toting specialist weapons, and fully calm for what they were about to do. The helmets all obscured the white glow from their implants, otherwise someone would have an easier time trying to catch a glimpse of them in this dark.

This was not a dark that Randolph had known before. On other planets, light pollution and smog had done a proper job in altering his natural propensity to see in the light that he would be essentially blind as a bat. Here, there were no streetlights to cause undue glare, no clouds to obstruct the heavens. The light from the stars and moons shone down upon them, illuminating everything in an eerily soft white brilliance.

They could see the house from their position now. Taking care not to brush against any plants growing alongside the path, they quickly moved in formation up to the front door. He waved for a salarian and a batarian to cover the entrances at the rear of the establishment, to which they quietly complied. They would only enter after the main group had breached the front.

The lead technician crouched down by the door, opening his omni-tool to get a look at the door's firmware in an effort to crack it. Randolph glanced upward to see if there had been any sign that they had been made. So far, nothing. Everything was proceeding as planned.

The salarian held up three fingers as his crack started processing. Three minutes until entry.

Normally, Randolph would be annoyed by the long wait but he had to remind himself that patience would keep him alive here. They were about to perform an assassination the likes of many had never done before. An all-out assault would be suicidal to them. Three minutes was a small price to pay.

He tightened his grip on his Valkyrie, hefting the heavy weight in his arms, and waited to be granted access.

* * *

The visor she wore had the option of filtering out light relative to its wearer's sleep patterns. Diagnostics in the quarian enviro-suit carefully monitor the sleep stages of its host and when it could appropriately power down so that no visible light could penetrate from the outside, thus enabling the most comforting rest as possible. As Tali languished in her deep sleep, her arms wrapped around Shepard in their bed, her stomach pressed against the small of his back as she clung onto him, the interior would be completely pitch black if she were to inexplicably open her eyes at this very moment.

All at once, perhaps fatefully, bright pop-ups began flaring up in her visor, a shrill alarm accompanying them so that only she could hear it. The explosion of stimuli was successful in jerking her out of her REM stage and she sat bolt-upright, aghast as Shepard mumbled in his sleep from her sudden movements.

Tali's breath did not slow as she frantically read the diagnostic bubbles that were flashing across her vision. With each second, she jerked a bit, fighting her indecision until her better nature got ahold of her and began shaking Shepard frantically.

"John," she whispered carefully but insistently, "John, wake up! _Now!"_

"Huh?" Shepard slurred sleepily, "Tali? Wuzzgoinon?"

"_Shh!_" she hissed, shaking him some more. "Quiet, John! I think we're in trouble."

_Trouble?_ Shepard abruptly opened his eyes and sat up, turning to face Tali. Fully awake, he spoke quietly and quickly, "What's going on, Tali? Has something happened?"

She gestured to her visor, "The house's security systems are registering a breach. I think someone might be hacking the front door."

Shepard's eyes hardened as he threw off the covers and sprung out of bed, clad in only a T-shirt and boxers, heading for a panel on the wall. Punching in a code on his omni-tool, the wooden panel slid outward, revealing a small set of weapons and clips. Their own mini-arsenal. Grabbing an M-11 Suppressor, he checked the clip as Tali also hurried over to the small weapons rack, selecting a plasma shotgun and shoving a fresh clip in.

Eying her cautiously, Shepard felt his pulse quicken. "What do you think, a burglar?"

"I don't think so," she intoned. "I just don't have that feeling."

Barefoot and padding across the carpet, Shepard quietly stalked down the stairway so that they were in full view of the front door. There were dim shadows that were illuminated by the moonlight, a small group. Too organized an effort for any burglar, not that there would be any on this planet so remotely stupid as to try to rob _this_ home. He crouched behind a pillar as he prepared to go to a more fortifiable position before Tali grasped his shoulder.

"You don't have a shield generator. You're vulnerable."

He stopped himself, looking at himself in his simple garb. He glanced across the way where his armor was kept in the workshop. But to get there, he would have to cross the main hallway and if someone was looking down through the window, they would definitely take notice. But they still had a few tricks up their sleeve so the armor could wait, for now.

"All right," he patted her arm. "You lead, I'll follow."

Taking point, Tali crouched behind the kitchen wall, careful to look out the windows in case there were more than the few positioned near the front door. The both of them huddled down low as Tali took the time to set the house's security system to arm itself. No telling what they would find once those doors opened. If someone wanted to harm her and her lover, then they would have to face the pits of hell and her wrath before they could succeed.

Two seconds later, a grinding noise followed by a click sounded as the lock slid away, leaving the door wide open. It only took the following sound of two footprints before everything went awry all at once for the intruders.

The armored batarian had unknowingly broken an invisible trip-beam as soon as he walked into the building, focusing more on scanning the area than looking for sophisticated security systems. The fault in the device registered and an electrical signal was sent to a mesh of explosive micro-filaments embedded in the glassed-in garden right next to the entrance. Detonating immediately, the batarian was flown backward as the pelting glass and subsequent flame decimated his body and turned it into a charred wreck, sending him scattered across the ground in pieces.

Shouts of alarm rose from the invading forces but Shepard only blinked in surprise as he glimpsed the smoking corpse deposited in the corner of the house.

"I'll be damned. It _did_ work after all."

A roar of anger reverberated over from the troops, from what they guessed had to be the ringleader. Within seconds, several troops began dispersing throughout the house, two of them surging upstairs to look for the two inhabitants, not knowing that they were closer than expected.

A crashing sound came from behind and both Shepard and Tali turned their heads to see another black armored figure bust their way through the back door, not even being polite enough to hack the lock. He must have been alerted by the sounds of battle and figured that now was a good enough time to begin his insertion. Shepard and Tali were still well hidden and the salarian seemed rather hurried, running through the kitchen without pausing to check in all the corners.

The tall, gangly alien threw open the nearest door and yelled in pain as Dog, Tali's FENRIS mech, unleashed an electrified bolt in his direction from the workshop, impacting squarely on his chest and scorching the plating. The salarian staggered backwards only to be propelled back forwards as Chiktikka, Tali's trusty combat drone, spawned from _behind_ him and also sent a beam of lightning in his direction. The salarian let out a shrill scream and collapsed on the island counter in the middle of the kitchen, now unconscious, his head hanging loosely over.

Shepard leaned forward and grabbed the salarian and slid him off the counter. Gripping its head in a lock, he twisted his arms easily and was rewarded by a series of thick snaps as the salarian's neck broke in three different places. Now completely limp, he shoved the body aside as he still held his pistol at the ready.

"I guess it must be amateur hour for these guys," Shepard quipped. "I didn't know that people would think that Rent-a-Mercs would be good enough to take on the both of us. _Eh_, Tali?"

Tali smiled beneath her mask, "The nerve of it all, though. Attacking us while we're still asleep, I mean. It isn't very _sporting_ of them, is it?"

"It's also not like they happened to wander into the home of a famous quarian admiral and her soon-to-be-husband, the Savior of the Galaxy, right?"

"Keep up the modesty, honey," Tali glanced over the wall, unable to control her grin. "We've still got a few more left."

Their quiet conversation had drawn the attention of another thug, a human this time, who peered over the side to see his targets crouching behind a row of counters. Before he could call out to the rest of the troops, Shepard stood, already sensing the danger, and shot him once in the kneecap with his pistol, producing a spray of blood and bone chunks.

The pain must have been unbearable for the man as he dropped instantly and began to wail until Tali hit a button on her omni-tool, watching the electrified floor panels in the hallway spring to life. The wail turned into a full-bodied shriek as electricity surged throughout the man's entire body and producing the smell of cooked flesh in the area. That would certainly draw the rest of their enemies this way.

The scorched body twitched feebly on the ground as the whirring of the panels died down but Tali took a few precious seconds to stand up, shotgun at the ready, and move over to the fallen human. She had no plans to waste any precious ammunition, however. Glancing around to make sure she was safe, she raised her foot up and viciously planted it downward on the man's neck, hearing the satisfying _crunch_ echo throughout the house.

Before she could slide back into cover, another batarian rounded a corner and spotted her standing in the hallway. Fingers fumbling, he fought to get his rifle to rise as fast as possible but Tali was still quicker on the draw. Depressing the trigger as hard as she could, the batarian's head blew apart in a wash of plasma and heat, staining the wood paneling beyond as her shotgun wisped slightly.

Seeing the headless body collapse, Tali saw the blood drip down from the wood and only now seemed to take in the carnage that had done an admirable job in messing up the lower story of their house.

She groaned loudly, all stealth forgotten, "This place was nice and tidy just last night! Now we're going to have to clean it all over again, damn it!"

"I think that this mess goes beyond a broom and damp washcloth, Tali."

Tali gave a theatric sigh, "It seems that, even in retirement, my work is _never_ finished!"

"Didn't these people get the memo?" he hollered back. "_I'm_ retired now as well! The way these people are handling this though, I could handle them all even if I was twenty years older _and_ woefully out of shape!"

"You sound like an old man when you make comparisons like-" Tali glanced upward and jumped back as bullets smacked into the tiles near her feet. A tall human and a salarian were rapidly descending the staircase, one armed with a two-burst rifle, the other holding a rapid-fire pulse weapon.

Tali dived back towards the safety of the cabinets, out of their line of sight, and breathed out slowly as she ejected her spent clip. "Ah…_bastard_," she groused. "These guys just can't take a hint."

At least, for the moment, she was safe. Perhaps it was time for him to take one for the team right now. Patting her shoulder, Shepard smiled at her once before abruptly standing up, directly in the line of fire. However, the two thugs had been aiming in Tali's direction and had to adjust once they saw the human they were looking for aim a pistol at them in nothing but a shirt and boxers.

Shepard, however, had stood up too quickly and his first shot went wide of the armored human. On the other hand, this had the side effect of causing the man to flinch into the salarian, throwing the alien off balance and causing him to stumble down the last few steps, flailing his arms wildly for balance. Shepard took advantage of this and his next shot was true, sailing directly into the salarian's heart and sending a spurt of green blood outward.

Like a puppet with its strings cut, the alien collapsed right near where Tali was crouching. Wasting no time, she plucked her knife from her boot holster and quickly ran it across the alien's throat, opening up a huge gash for the remaining blood to spill out off. She slowly backed away from the spreading pool as Shepard crouched beside her.

The impacts of the two-burst discharges now started up in earnest as the large human adjusted his aim. Shepard was breathing hard and wincing as bits of plaster and granite were chipped away from the impacts of the bullets. They were pinned down but in no way they were out for the count.

Shepard grabbed Tali's arm to focus her and indicated the man's position relative to their own. Understanding, she quickly opened her home defense app and selected the appropriate countermeasure before activating it, preparing for the imminent consequences.

Another boom rocketed through the house as the set of micro-filaments near the stairwell detonated. Unfortunately for them, the human was standing too far away to be caught in the blast zone but the force was so great that he was propelled directly out the front door, tumbling onto the dusty Rannoch ground, his helmet knocked askew. Tearing the covering off his head and dropping it, Randolph had only a few seconds to realize that he was bleeding heavily from his face. A few wood splinters had made contact with his flesh and he was now dripping blood quite severely in multiple places, directly exposing some of his implants.

Randolph glanced upward at the house and saw two silhouettes cautiously make their way outside. It was not like he could do anything at the moment. His guns were knocked loose and the entirety of his team was dead so there was only one option for him to consider at the moment, no matter how shameful it was in his eyes.

He ran.

Shepard tried to adjust his eyes in the darkness but the automatic lighting from the house was not helping his case in the slightest. Even Tali, who was naturally endowed with better night vision than humans, was having a hard time focusing through the glare. The both of them standing on the porch could hear the faint snapping of a figure brushing aside the local desert flora in a hasty retreat. They aimed their guns in the general direction but knew that firing blindly was wishful thinking at best. They decided to save the ammo.

There was also no point in mindless pursuit at the moment. Their now-quarry was unarmed and cowed, but they were not much prepared for a direct assault at the moment, despite the fact that they had the upper hand. By the time they would take to get properly equipped, the final human would have been long gone at this point. Backing up slowly, they retreated back into their own home, Tali locking the door behind them for good.

Staring back into their house, the both of them sighed in unison as they appraised the damage. Pockmarked walls, torn sofas, blood-stained floors. It was not so much the financial aspect of covering all of this but the symbolic nature of it all. Sure, they had driven a few random thugs from their house but it was the fact that they got this far in the first place. A home was supposed to be a castle, but did it have to be a fortress in order for them to feel truly safe? Even on this planet, of all places?

Tali drooped her shoulders as she activated a nearby repair drone to begin cleaning up some of the debris left behind. Shepard clicked the safety back on his pistol and Tali handed him her shotgun as he trudged upstairs. As he set them back in the proper location in their safe, he walked over to the office, itching at his beard as he did so. He watched Tali lie numbly down upon the bed, hands folded over her chest in thought, before sat down upon his chair and fired up the console as he prepared to make a call.

Several, in fact.

* * *

Four hours later, the house was host to a swarm of several different beings as they meticulously scoured the crime scene. Quarian marines, for the most part, took careful readings from their omni-tools and were in the process of collecting as much evidence as possible for the case file, careful not to step in evidence that was either brushed or stained across the previously spotless floor.

The initial questioning of Shepard and Tali had finished about half an hour ago and they were both sitting in the workshop now, Shepard nursing a beer and Tali carefully tinkering with a few spare parts aimlessly as they waited. Medics had gone over them but they did not seem to be suffering any symptoms of shock, merely slightly fatigued after exerting themselves during the night by having to defend their house from a band of armed thugs. Their sleep _had_ been interrupted, after all.

The door leading to the house opened and Garrus walked through, followed by Kaidan and Liara. The trio had made planetfall shortly after Shepard had contacted them. There was little evidence to assume that there was no correlation between this attack and the one on the Citadel, which warranted bringing them in on this new development.

"You guys still doing okay?" Garrus asked as he eyed his friends.

Tali shrugged as she set her device aside for now. "Could be worse. I'm more annoyed than you might think, but at least we're alive."

Shepard nodded, squeezing her hand as always, "I think our adrenaline rush has finally worn down, but I'm just glad that everything turned out reasonably well for us. The furniture notwithstanding, though. It's just stuff, anyway. Easily replaceable."

Liara and Kaidan chuckled in the background politely, as did Garrus. Most people would be in hysterics at the lesser action of someone breaking into a house to steal valuables but Shepard and Tali were simply ambivalent to having a death squad make an attempt on their lives. It was as if it was just another day in the life for them, nothing out of the ordinary.

Back to business, Garrus cleared his throat. "I finished speaking with the captain in charge of the investigation and we went over the bodies of the guys you fragged. The ones that we could recover the most evidence from, that is." The turian shot Tali a playful condescending stare, as the batarian she had decapitated was going to take more time identifying now that they had no facial features to match up. Blood work always produced absolutes but it took way longer than comparing physical profiles.

Tali caught his look and made a rude gesture with her hands towards the turian so that only Shepard could see. He guffawed and Garrus cocked his head in the human's direction, who struggled to quiet his laughter as he and Tali giggled together.

Continuing, Garrus pressed on, "Anyway, we have identified the Coalition connection between all five of them, as expected, and found that all of them had been heavily implanted."

Shepard leaned forward, "The same ones like that bomber on the Citadel?"

"Apparently so. White glow, brightly visible underneath the epidermis, wide surface area, the whole thing seems like a match to me."

Tali now interjected, "Have you figured out what these implants actually do?"

"We've begun performing neural stimulation tests for the cadavers who still have their heads on their bodies. We keep on getting strong reactions whenever we send a surge through an implant, which confirms that these little bastards have a lot of control over motor functions."

"So? There are implants out there that are designed to reinforce natural body processes like bone and muscle-"

"-Except these implants directly control _everything_. They don't just provide gradual guidance, they afford complete mastery over limb movement entirely. The worst part is that their _neural_ implants were comprised of some sort of technology that the techs have not even seen before, the implications of which I can't even begin to hypothesize."

"Unknown technology," Shepard mused. "Like Reaper technology?"

"No, and that is conclusive," Garrus indicated. "It was most certainly not like Reaper technology but it does sound like something that they would pull off, doesn't it?"

"Modified implants, complete motor control, and a secret organization to boot," Shepard pondered out loud. "You know, if you consider the facts, this all sounds like this Coalition is trying to perfect indoctrination to their own purposes. Given that we've seen several strange events happening within the past few days, we might have to consider the possibility of them trying to reverse engineer ancient technology for whatever outcome they're aiming for."

"Indoctrination," Garrus nodded. "Kind of like with what Cerberus was trying to do back on Horizon?"

"A bit different. Cerberus was trying to use indoctrination against the Reapers and their own thralls. This is slightly unlike that, us pure organics are much more susceptible to this kind of persuasion and someone who might have unlocked the secret to doing so could very well exploit this to their advantage."

"But with _what_ ancient technology could they indoctrinate others with?" Tali asked. "All of the Reaper technology was destroyed when the Crucible fired so there shouldn't be anything in this galaxy that can do that."

"Not Reaper-made, Tali," Liara joined, eyes clear. "But possibly _Leviathan_-made."

Shepard pointed at Liara in confirmation, "Exactly. Our good friends the Leviathans had these artifacts that facilitated their use for indoctrination all over the galaxy. Now we don't have any idea how their technology works, but it just might be possible that someone in the Coalition _does_."

"If the Leviathans aren't behind it all," the asari clarified.

Shepard slapped his hands on his knees as he stood, eye to eye with Garrus. "Only one way to find out then, right?" He straightened his back before addressing the turian, not meeting his eyes for several seconds before swallowing and tilting his chin upward, "You know, Garrus, if you haven't rescinded that offer I'd guess I'd like to take you up on it."

Garrus tilted his head before glancing at Tali. "Have you two discussed this?" he asked. "Because this seems like a decision that shouldn't be made lightly as you made your displeasure about the idea quite vocal just yesterday." Garrus was not going to act all smug about this as he had presented them with a bunch of unknowns that day and their negative reaction was purely natural. If anything, he was hugely relieved at the fact that his friends were all right and now willing to help him.

"That was _then_," Tali said as she stood as well. "This is _now_. The Coalition has made this personal by attacking me and John. I want to know who's behind this, I want them brought to justice, and _then_ I want them thrown out the airlock. No one attacks me and John and expects to live. _No one_."

Liara covered her smile with a hand, the quote immediately reminding her of Javik. That Prothean could be so blunt sometimes but he did have a respectable way with words in the fact that he was always so direct. Guess Tali had been picking up a few cues from him with this newfound fierceness.

The turian's mandible's twitched slightly in a smile. "It's your call, boss," he addressed Shepard. "We've got a slew of new evidence on this front and everyone seems to be in agreement about proceeding together. How do you want to handle this?"

Shepard looked upward in thought, "You still have permission from the Council to get me temporarily reinstated?"

"I do."

"And the Alliance is still willing to loan me the Normandy?"

"Last I checked. Complete with a full crew, no less."

The human clapped his hands together eagerly as he began dishing out orders. "All right. Then make your calls as quickly as possible. I want everyone ready to leave once the Normandy is in atmosphere and that means being fed, dressed, and rested if there's time. And have the crew, or Traynor if she's still around, preset 2181 Despoina as our next destination so that we can get underway as soon as possible."

"Despoina?" Garrus asked, halting in place. "You mean-?"

"Yep. We're going to pay our benefactors a little visit. So let's start going to work and update me when our ship enters the system. We've got a lot of ground to cover."


	7. Chapter 6: You're Never Finished

_Every time you dive, you hope you'll see something new - some new species. Sometimes the ocean gives you a gift, sometimes it doesn't._

-James Cameron

* * *

It may have been a year and a half for him, but to Shepard, it felt like just yesterday that he stepped off the deck of the Normandy, the finest ship he had the honor of serving on for the last time. To him, it felt like a second home, a haven out of all the violence that had surrounded him, a safe zone for him to quell his raging thoughts.

Actually, it may as well have been only a day since his official resignation as everything still looked familiar to him. Sure, the proper time had been taken to put extra paneling on the areas the Alliance had torn up as part of their "improvements" and all of the trip-prone cabling had been properly stowed under the floor, which demonstrated the need for a proper looking flagship. As a symbol of humanity and of the galaxy's overwhelming victory, it needed to look spotless. Hell, it was the cleanest Shepard had ever seen the craft in this state, even when it was brand new and about to embark on its maiden voyage.

Complementing the reunion was the sight of the Normandy's trusty pilot, Joker, and a polite greeting from its AI, EDI. The thin man had immediately walked up to Shepard when he first boarded and firmly pumped his hand in a shake, a typical greeting from him. He was looking just as happy as when he had seen him last, the last memory of the pilot being his elation when the techs had successfully managed to reactivate EDI after the Crucible had fired. He had been recently promoted and still clung to the Normandy as the ship upon which he served, partly because of dedication to the craft and also because of the presence of EDI.

Naturally, the transfer of process between separate blue boxes had effectively wiped any organic reasoning EDI had acclimated during her tenure as an unshackled AI. Fortunately, the ship contained a record of decisions that the AI had made in the past and this allowed her to extrapolate and alter her base programming to one more akin to Joker's liking, a personality similar to right before she was temporarily deactivated. Her physical shell had been knocked out for good so she was delegated to remain as purely software for the moment, but it did not seem to dampen Joker's spirits any, for he had formed quite an attachment to the AI, despite his initial misgivings.

Thankfully, in Shepard's case, the reintroductions were kept to a minimum and soon enough, the entire crew was quickly back where they belonged. Kaidan was currently eating in the mess, Liara had set up her workstation in her old room, Garrus was back at the forward batteries, and Tali was busy checking out engineering.

James Vega was in the middle of N7 training back on Earth and Steve Cortez had retired from the navy for good shortly after the war, explaining their absence. Even though Shepard missed them, what those two were doing at the moment was their own business and he had no right to interfere at all. He preferred to get this done with as few people as possible for this mission. Maybe then he could effectively follow Cortez's lead and firmly retire from it all. Lord knows he needed a break once in a while. He was supposed to be done with this lifestyle at this point.

Everyone's armor and weapons had already been loaded onto the ship, Traynor had seen to that, dutiful as always. All the tanks were fully fueled and everything was ready to go within an hour of them boarding. Waiting for his command, he stood in front of the galaxy map and leaned on the railing, gazing serenely at the brilliant holographic projection in front of him. It felt like he filled a much-needed presence, standing back up here again. It was like meeting an old friend once again, eager to embrace after spending time away from each other.

Shepard smiled as he opened the comm to Joker at the front. Regardless of how much he wanted to be here, it felt good otherwise. Blinking slowly, he exhaled and then firmly stated for the pilot to follow their preset course immediately, to which he complied. There was no motion to indicate that the ship was moving out of Rannoch's atmosphere at all, merely the pilot's word that they were heading out.

Within moments, Shepard could see the faint azure glow from up ahead which was the telltale sign that they had just jumped to FTL. It would take half an hour until they reached the relay followed by six hours after that to reach their destination. Shepard then realized that he never got to finish his rest that had just been interrupted not twelve hours ago. Seeing as there was nothing else for him to do at the moment, no one to contact or converse with, he headed back towards the lift and depressed the button for his cabin.

Even though the layout of the room had not changed one bit, it still felt rather empty to him. For one, the tank on the side of the wall had been cleared of fish (they had all died out and were not replaced) and the glass cases were devoid of his collection of model ships (relocated to the office back at his house). There was no lived in feel of this room anymore, it reminded him more of the kind of accommodations one would find at a hotel. Sterile, to the point, _boring_.

However, none of that mattered for as soon as Shepard spotted the bed at the foot of the small staircase, something in his brain immediately registered that with sleep and he quickly felt tired, his eyelids already starting to droop. Stumbling over to its foot, he had no time to properly deposit himself onto its soft surface, choosing instead to topple flat on his stomach as he passed out, grateful for the sudden reprieve.

* * *

His body no doubt thanking him for the allotted rest, he rose from his slumber naturally and peacefully, the blurry world coming into focus soon after. Shepard noted that he was curled in a fetal position and that the chronometer across from his head was indicating that it would only be forty-five minutes until they reached their destination.

Talk about timing things right.

What came as a welcome surprise to him was the pair of arms he now noted were draped around his neck as he slept. Turning in place, he was not surprised at whom the arms belonged to, coming face to face with a familiar visor and a pair of glowing eyes beyond.

She blinked, he blinked.

Shepard smiled warmly, to no doubt Tali was mimicking his expression. That was a gesture he could see without a visor in the way.

Tali shuffled her shoulders on the mattress. "Bed's a lot less comfortable than I thought."

He gave a tiny nod in agreement. "Yes, sleeping on that cloud back at home has kind of ruined my preference to sleep on hard surfaces anymore. Regardless, I still had a great rest. You?"

"Better than I expected," she replied, touching his chin. "I got less sleep than you as I only got up here four hours ago to see if you wanted to talk. You were passed out on the bed and it seemed like a good idea so I thought I'd join you."

Shepard grinned mischievously as he kissed the back of her hand as it moved further towards his face, hearing her titter from doing so. "Now that I know you were here, that might have been the reason why I got such a good sleep."

"So, what, we're acting as the other's sleep aids at the moment?"

"I could always put that on the official mission brief, stating the reason why you were sleeping in my cabin every night, in my bed, was so that the both of us could have a marginally better rest. I think I can check that off under 'crew morale,' right?"

She knew he was kidding but gave a light swat to his cheek all the same. "Hey, I have an important role on this ship other than my captain's 'sleep aid.' Who else could you trust to monitor those engines so effectively? It probably won't matter to anyone who could possibly care since we're going to be wed in a week anyway, John. _Then_ we'll have an official excuse."

He sat up a little, giving a mocking look. "A week? Is that all that's left?"

The quarian gave a seemingly disinterested shrug. "So it says on the calendar."

"Huh. It really snuck up on us, didn't it?"

"You can say that again," Tali mumbled as she put a hand on Shepard's chest. "You think that we'll be done with this mission before then?"

"If not," he clarified, "We're going to have to take time out of our schedule for that. These Coalition bastards might have ruined our house a bit but I'll be damned if they're going to ruin the day that I'm getting married to _you_."

Tali propped her head off her pillow as she regarded the human with elation. "My, my, John. _That's_ a selfish thought. You're telling me that you would delegate time away from your duties just so you could marry a quarian you only just met a few years ago?"

"_You_ were my sole duty long before all of this came about. You're damn right that I would delegate time to marry you. You take priority now, plain and simple."

She appeared quite satisfied as she reached out to pluck at his trimmed beard. "I'm sure there are a lot of women out there who would kill to have this kind of devotion from their partner."

"Maybe," he raised his eyebrows. "But they'll all be disappointed if they want to compete with _me_."

Tali snaked her arms around him to give out a quick hug, a feeling he reciprocated as he felt her warmth from her thin body beneath the safety of her enviro-suit. Shepard reasoned that the perks of being with a loved one were severely underrated by society. It was the most assuring feeling he could ever describe at the moment. Unfortunately, the both of them soon realized that they had to get ready for whatever assignment came up next, so they awkwardly rose from the bed, yawning and stretching and doing whatever they had to do to get into the proper mindset.

Shepard made a beeline for the bathroom, remembering one action that he needed to do that he had put off for a while. He reached behind the mirror and was rewarded when he pulled out the razor, still where he had left it all that time ago. Switching it on and turning the knob on the faucet, he immediately set to work on his non-Alliance regulation beard. Facial hair was allowed in the military provided it was a certain length, however, Shepard's had let his grow beyond the regulated limits and since he technically was a commander again (not to mention a semi-official Spectre), it had to go.

The precision blade made short work of the strands and within minutes, he was running a hand along his jaw, feeling the smooth skin beneath as he stroked thoughtfully. His chiseled face was now bare once more, every bit the man he saw on those damn extranet advertisements twenty-four-seven.

Tali glanced into the bathroom and Shepard turned to face her, awaiting a response to his newer look. Interestingly, she nodded and walked up to him, also using a hand to run along the fresh face.

"Hm. Much better, John, if I must say."

He blinked, incredulous. "Wait, you liked this better than the beard? Why didn't you say anything? I would have shaved it off sooner."

Tali waved a hand in dismissal. "You had a lot on your mind and I wasn't about to harass you for something as trivial as facial hair. It's your body, you do what you want with it. I'm just pointing out, seeing as you have now experienced two different styles in short succession, I want to say that you look better clean-shaven."

Shepard stared at the razor before putting it back down. "Now that I know what you like, I guess I'll have to invest in a good razor for the house, then."

"You don't have to shave every day," Tali pointed out. "I also think that your 'grizzled' look when you haven't shaved for a couple days looks really cute."

"And I'm only finding this out _now_," Shepard muttered as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"It's a learning experience, John," Tali assured. "Don't make a big deal out of it. You could always make a few suggestions to _me_ once in a while too, you know?"

Shepard scoffed, "Yeah right. Not only do you look good the way you are, any nitpick I could point out to you about your looks would probably infuriate you to no end as that's a subject you get very defensive about. If I remember correctly, you usually get very trigger-happy when you're infuriated, which is a clear indication for me not to say anything at all."

She raised her arm to indicate her protest and opened her mouth to say something when she realized that she had no argument at all. Blinking and struggling to come up with words, any at all, she let her arm drop back down to her side as she squinted in thought. Finding no empirical evidence in her mind to suggest what Shepard said had been false, she gave a cheery shrug and shook off her temporary paralysis.

"I guess I can't disagree with that, dear."

* * *

Sigurd's Cradle is not a well-inhabited corner of the galaxy and never has been, the star cluster being relatively unexplored compared to many of its galactic peers. All in all, it was just one such area named after a Norse god containing a bunch of aimless systems interspaced with little reason nor purpose, nothing was unique about this place at all. Perhaps that was how the Leviathans came to choose the planet designated 2181 Desponia, a water-logged sphere in the Psi Tophet system completely devoid of any life on land, or any land at all.

The rather obtuse name was only a placeholder, as no official survey team had actually come through to gain a more detailed insight into the little blue world. Admittedly, there had been more pressing matters at hand, what with the war and all. Human probes had first discovered it and since then it remained a little more than a footnote on the official "Things to do, places to see" list.

Desponia would have remained overlooked had the apex species of the galaxy, the Leviathans, not settled into the depths of the oceans here. An aquatic species, they had been driven to exile after their synthetic creations, the Reapers, had torn the galaxy asunder time after time again. It was through their meddling that caused all of this destruction and chaos to occur in the first place but it was only though their sheer determination that they had endured all of the cycles and survived. It was unknown exactly how many of them were currently left, but Shepard knew that he only needed one to learn the truth.

He stood in front of the galaxy map, double checking the coordinates to make sure that they had arrived. The icon of the Normandy sat square above the planet's surface. Shepard had ordered Joker not to maneuver the ship in-atmosphere, as the Leviathans had a natural EMP ability that could be catastrophic if they were not going to be friendly. If the ship would be caught in the blast in an area strongly affected by gravity, the results would most likely be deadly.

Shepard assumed it wouldn't come to that, he had talked with these creatures before and it was only through their involvement that the cycles came to an end. The creators had finally put down their created after he had convinced them to rise up for this one cycle. But one brief encounter was not enough to determine the overall motive of these creatures and he just wanted to take every single precaution available. If his instincts were right, the Leviathans already knew he was here. He only hoped that they were in a talking mood.

Walking back toward the lift, he ordered Joker to stay put until ordered otherwise. Punching the button to the lift, he was about to step inside when he almost ran into Tali. He frowned slightly as he had been lost in his thoughts that the idea of anyone being in the lift was a negligible concern to him at the moment.

She did not make to leave the elevator, waiting instead for Shepard to press the button for his cabin. He smiled as if he could read her thoughts, anticipating her reasons for being here right now. "You sure you want to do this?"

Tali put a hand on his shoulder. "I know you too well, John. I had a feeling that you would want to do this alone."

"That _was_ the initial plan."

Her hand clenched down hard. "I know. Which is why I came up in the first place. I don't know exactly what you're planning to do in talking to these…things, but I know that I'm coming with you, wherever you go."

"Hey," he shrugged. "I learned a long time ago not to argue with you once your mind is set. Even so, it could be dangerous, what we're about to do-"

"Noted," she replied in a disinterested manner. "Now stop trying to talk me out of this and let's get to it, okay?"

"So direct." Shepard could not hide the grin at Tali's brusqueness. Anyone else would have taken the hint and gotten out of his way but not her. At one point, she might have complied with his reasoning but now she had come too far with him to let him out of her sight. Tali had become quite capable at holding her own through all the time he'd known her, repeatedly butting heads with her stubborn commander, the man she loved, dispelling any doubts he had about choosing to bond with her. In their eyes, everything was shared between them. Shepard had learned, embarrassingly late in the game, that Tali did not care for her own protection even when logic dictated otherwise. Being a quarian, her mental bond was so strong that she would have to die before willingly leaving Shepard alone in a dangerous situation.

It did not take long for the lift doors to open and for the pair to walk back into the spartan interior of Shepard's cabin. Following his lead, Tali watched Shepard simply head over to the couch and sit down upon it, back arched comfortably against the leather. Somewhat apprehensively, she sat down beside him as he started to relax his breathing, slowly blinking to vanquish any demons in his mind and prepare himself for what was to come next.

Still not understanding, Tali tilted her head. "Um, John? Shouldn't we be getting ready?"

Eyes closed, Shepard spoke clearly, "We _are _getting ready, Tali. Just give it a moment."

"I'm not sure I understand…"

Shepard opened his eyes, smiling just a little bit as he held his palm out, Tali clutching at it as he explained. "The Leviathans are a telepathic race, Tali. We don't need to go down to the surface to communicate with them anymore since they're not in hiding from the Reapers. They can use their natural ability to control anyone within their range. I know they know we're here and I believe they will make contact with us when we're ready."

Tali's eyes went wide, "How…how can you tell if they know we're here?"

Shepard sighed, using his free hand to rub at the bridge of his nose. "I can _feel_ them in the back of my mind. I've felt this way before, it's not something you forget. It's very similar to the kind of hold the Reapers exerted only this is a little more subtle, not as direct."

"Keelah," Tali gasped. "So it's like you still maintain a link to them even after they've left."

"Yeah. It might have been from our first contact, or it could be a built up reaction from my encounters with the Reapers. It matters little at this point. I warn you though, it isn't the most comfortable of feelings, but it's the only way they prefer to converse. Everything will be a little jarring but if you just focus on me you will be fine. _We_ will be fine."

"What makes you so sure that they would want to talk to the both of us and not just you?"

He grasped her hand tighter as he raised their clasped appendages between them. "I think they'll have no choice," he indicated, placing his hand over the two. "This way, we will be together, whether they like it or not."

Tali gripped his hand so tightly he could see her knuckles clench through the suit. Her voice was unwavering but it still betrayed the tiniest hint of uncertainty that only Shepard could detect. "Okay," she whispered, unaware that Shepard shared the same reservations. "_Ni se'miel_, John Shepard."

"Gesundheit."

She laughed, politely shaking her head at his confusion, even though his return phrase went over her head in its meaning. "_'I love you_,' John. That's how it's formally said in Khelish, _saera_."

His face lit up at this bit of information, grinning broadly. Another bit of her wonderful, flowing language for him to learn. "One more time, how do you say it? Nee…se…mal?"

"Ni. Se. Miel. Just like that."

"_Ni se'miel_, Tali'Zorah," he replied back, warmth transgressing upon him. "I will make sure to remember that."

Tali brought their hands to her vocabulator in an imitation of a kiss, the gesture giving Shepard a pleasant feeling. She smiled, watching the effects of her actions on the human next to her. "Once we're back at home, I'll make sure to have you teach me how to say that in _your_ language. Only then will it be fair."

"It's not going to have as beautiful of a meaning, sadly," Shepard admitted. "But I would be happy to, nonetheless."

"I'd like that."

Both of them leaned back on the couch, hearing the material hiss as force was exerted upon it. They held each other's hand firmly, eight digits interlocked in a permanent vice. An unbreakable bond, an eternal connection.

The air seemed to be growing thicker, if he paid more attention to his surroundings. The wind blowing into his lungs seemingly had the consistency of soup, it was getting harder to breathe. There was a low thrumming noise that rattled their bones uncomfortably. There was no question on what the source was. Now was the time.

As soon as both sighed in unison, Shepard winced as a stab of pain was felt within his head, near the base of his neck. A mental splinter, wedged in an area he could not reach. The agonizing pain grew and he could hear Tali mutter beside him as no doubt she was experiencing the same discomfort. Their hands shook together as the ache spread, tiny flashes of light were appearing through their shut eyelids.

As soon as Shepard felt something give within his head, there was a harsh _snap!_ and suddenly as it had arrived, the pain fled the confines of his mind. He must have been standing because he felt his knees give and he collapsed onto the ground, coughing, hearing Tali right beside him as she spluttered.

They had made it.

Raising his head, Shepard now saw the flat grey expanse that he had experienced once before, the color very much reminding him of Tali's smooth skin. The floor churned and undulated as if it was a film of water and that they were standing upon it. The landscape was flat and even, the horizon a clear line where the ground was separated from the air, or what constituted for air in this place.

He helped Tali to her feet as much as her rubbery legs would allow. Leaning on him, she started to regain enough strength until she could stand on her own, clutching her head in pain.

"Uhhh," she moaned. "John? Are we here?"

"Yes, Tali," he guided, holding her close in case some demon were to pop up around them, protecting her. "This is where I met Leviathan. It should be here soon-"

"**Why have you come back?"**

The deep resounding voice caused Shepard and Tali to turn behind them, hands instinctively reaching for weapons that were not there. A shadow was now gliding across the shining surface, becoming more and more visible with each step it took.

It only took a moment for Tali to recognize the familiar shape. "John…isn't that Ann Bryson?"

Indeed, for it was not a trick of the light. Ann Bryson, researcher on the Leviathan project, was striding towards them purposefully, a neutral expression on her face. Shepard clasped Tali's shoulder as she shifted slightly forward to relax her.

"It's not really Ann, Tali," he whispered. "Leviathan takes the form of whoever it comes into contact with. We're speaking to _it_ right now."

The form of Ann Bryson stopped a few meters away from the pair, blankly analyzing them before it spoke once more. **"State your purpose. Why have you come to us once more?"**

"You know why we're here," Shepard kept his voice low and even. "Someone has been attacking us. We came to you for answers."

"**This is an anomaly that does not involve us. This matter is beyond our concern."**

"True, but what is your concern is the fact that whoever is behind these attacks has been using _your_ technology. Technology that is dangerous to everyone in this galaxy, thereby involving _you_."

The avatar of Derek Hadley did not appear fazed as the form finished molding to another shape. **"The only remnants of our technology were the artifacts we left behind, our organic communicators that you have borne witness to. The purpose of them being used by other races was an unknown consequence, an unforeseen outcome."**

Tali took a breath before straightening up. "You speak of the orbs being used by other races like it has happened before, kind of like reverse-engineering. Why would others do such a thing?"

Garneau's avatar considered her question as the shape shifted once more, a sliding of shadow across light. **"We have seen our artifacts being used by others when we form a connection. Their grasp of our creations is limited but substantial. It is only natural that a species transfixed by an insatiable curiosity would strive to understand concepts that are inexplicable to them."**

Shepard considered the Leviathan's words carefully. "So, you're saying that you have an idea of who would do such a thing?"

"**The purpose of your arrival here is two-pronged. You wish to understand who is responsible for your attacks but you also desire to learn if all of the chaos was from our doing." **An image of a Reaper, projected by nothing, floated in the air as the form spread its arms, the mechanical representation of its squid-like creators, a mirror image in form and deeds.** "We number in the dozens after our creations rebelled, our position as the apex race in the galaxy had been toppled. There would be no point in executing violence to achieve our old objectives. Our involvement in whatever you state is trivial."**

"Even so, you harbor no desire to…gather tribute from us?" Those had been the words the Leviathan had used before, when demonstrating the need to create the Reapers in the first place, to prevent their synthetic creations from destroying them. A calculated hypothesis that had gone all sorts of awry.

"**The beings who we once knew as our thralls had been extinguished millennia ago. This is a new cycle, one that has forgotten our place as their benefactor. We would not be accepted amongst the populace as each being has evolved to become more independent, more resourceful, than we ever could have imagined. This is a galaxy that would resist us, and resistance would be our ultimate doom. We harbor no will to exert dominance on those who do not seek to be dominated."**

"But," Shepard grasped, "Why your artifacts? Why would anyone use them?"

"**It is a purely organic inhibition for one to exert influence on others. Our artifacts have the ability to project our quantum entanglement communicator that allows us to control whomever we desire. The prospect of this ability to be used by others would be alluring to those of a less altruistic nature. Ever since you destroyed our creations, there have been no other artifacts in this galaxy that have the same effect, except the ones we deliberately left behind."**

"How many artifacts are there?" Tali asked, wringing her hands. "How many are left?"

"**More than the number of stars in this galaxy,"** came the chilling reply. **"Far too many for you to comprehend."**

"Keelah."

Shepard eyed the form of now-Ann Bryson as the Leviathan patiently stood straight. "So, if the cause of this conflict is not from you, do you know who _is_ responsible?"

**"Your arrogance is insulting.** **Why should we help you at all?"**

He was taken aback at that, feeling hot from the creature's uncaring nature. "You helped us in the fight against the Reapers, why won't you help us now?"

"**Because this matter does not concern us, unlike the last time you came to us. There is no threat to our existence. What could be gained by providing you with the answers you seek?"**

"Because you can help ensure that we do not follow the same path you took!" Tali now practically shouted, despite Shepard's look of horror at her outburst. "That the potential for violence can be lessened dramatically, saving _all_ of us. You've been in this position before, you can stop it this time, stop us from making the same mistakes _you_ did!"

The form of Ann Bryson turned away, hands clasped behind its back as it tilted its head upwards. Gazing serenely at the stormy ceiling, it gave an agonizingly slow blink before turning to the both of them. **"We made no mistake, quarian," **it said flatly**. "The Reapers served their purpose in quelling the galactic cycles, but we realize that this is an outcome that organics wish to avoid. If that is the case, then this will be the last time we will assist you in any capacity. ****Our involvement in this galaxy upsets the natural order established, an order where we have no place anymore. If you want to divert from our chosen path, then you must continue with the ideals you have accepted, for straying from them will result in your doom. And if that should come to pass, then this galaxy will be host to nothing. To answer what you have come here to seek, we have felt our presence torn from the gathering of multiple artifacts on the planet you know as 'Illium,' in the largest city on the northernmost landmass. There is no other explanation for this occurrence except for the example you provided to us." **

Shepard breathed out silently, relieved despite his head starting to ache again. "Thank you," he nodded. "We apologize for disturbing you and we will abide by your wishes to be left alone."

"**Your gratitude is unnecessary, as is your promise. We will no longer be servants to anyone's whim after today. If you try to come here again, you will find yourself lacking, for we will have left the confines of this galaxy, destined to make a new one our home." **The Leviathan's form glanced from Shepard and Tali as its eyes tracked with the movement of its head, considering each of them in turn. **"Your species are vastly different from the ones we presided over. The inevitability of creation is...astounding. We could never have anticipated the extent to which other organics could develop such individuality, such inspiration, such hate…"** The avatar of Ann Bryson finally betrayed the tiniest of smiles as it stared at Tali, **"…such kindness…"**

"What…" Tali breathed, "What will you do once you've settled a new world, make a new home?"

"**Do? What we will do…is **_**rule**_**."**

A brilliant illumination blinded them and they could not help the cry of pain that shot from their mouths as the light overwhelmed them. Accompanying it was the familiar pain in their heads, directly in their _minds_, that devastated them and forced them to their knees. As soon as he began to writhe uncontrollably, Shepard's eyes snapped open and he jolted upon the couch, Tali doing the same thing next to him, their hands still interlinked as they crushed the other's respective grip.

"_Ah!_" Tali gasped as she started to hold her head, releasing her death grip on him. "Damn it, it hurts…"

"It'll go away in a minute," Shepard promised, rubbing his temples. "Just relax, Tali. It's all over now."

"I sure hope so because-" she stopped as soon as she looked at Shepard. "Oh no, you're bleeding from your nose, John."

He reached up to touch his nostrils and his fingers came away bloody, bright red blotches upon his flesh. There was a steady stream running down his face, already starting to drip on his shirt. Groaning, he leaned across to procure a bunch of tissues, dabbing at his dribbling nose with one as he left the others untouched.

Gesturing at her, he said, "Better take off your mask too, Tali. You might be suffering the same."

Dutifully, she complied. She had been exposed to the atmosphere in Shepard's cabin before so there was no real danger of her catching a deadly infection. That was the last thing on any of their minds right now. As soon as her visor was pulled off, Shepard could see that Tali's nose was also dripping blood down her lovely face.

Shepard grabbed a spare tissue and held her gently as he began to swab at her face, cleaning it of any excess blood that lingered upon her grey surface. She shut her eyes as he worked, absentmindedly kissing his fingers as he ran across her lips to get rid of the blood. Eventually, Shepard was finished but frowned nonetheless. Even though his nose had clotted, Tali's was still running in a steady trickle. Procuring one last tissue, he twisted it up in a ball and handed it to her.

"Shove this up your nose," he ordered. "It'll stem the bleeding until it's healed. It's just a side effect of communicating with them for a long time. Our minds are not meant to be over-exerted like that."

She took the tissue, understanding, and made a face as her right nostril was suddenly filled with tissue paper. It was a rather odd sensation, having one nostril completely clogged up and swollen. Her eyes twitched as she struggled to get accustomed to the feeling and she breathed heavily as if she was about to sneeze.

"I…I don't," she attempted to speak around her stuffy nose, her words coming out in a forced and sloppy manner. "I don't thig we should try dat again, John."

He snickered at her nasal speech, causing her to flush, her cheeks darkening. "Wat's so fuddy?"

"You, Tali," Shepard chuckled. "It's just your way of talking. That tissue doesn't really do anyone any favors in that regard."

"_Bosh'ted_," Tali managed, but smiling nonetheless. "Is dis even a real method for fixing nosebleeds or did you just do dis just to make me sound stupid?"

"Sound stupid? You?" Shepard's eyebrows rose mockingly. "Why, Tali, that makes me feel bad. Why would I deliberately laugh at you at your own expense?"

"Dat's somethig you would _do_, idiot!" she laughed as she grasped his shirt in a deliberately threatening manner. "But, next time, let's never hab a mental conversation with an oberly powerful being that can kill us with a single thought, okay?"

"'Keep conversations directly in the physical world,' got it."

Tali smiled through the tissue still embedded in her nose, leaning her head on Shepard's lap as they stared up at the stars from the couch, idly playing with the other's hands for a bit. Not feeling the urge to speak, Shepard idly inputted a command to Joker on his omni-tool to set a course for Illium immediately. Soon after, he got a notice from EDI saying that they would arrive in roughly fifteen hours' time.

Their headaches had vanished at this point and a ravenous hunger had replaced it entirely. Tali giggled as Shepard's stomach rumbled right next to her face and immediately frowned when hers clamored shortly thereafter. It seemed like their next duty was planned out for them, but they still remained in their position, gazing around the familiar room as they smiled at the other lovingly, taking advantage of the lull in the storm.

Still lying on Shepard, Tali adjusted her body slightly so that she was more comfortable. "How long do I have to keep dis in?" she grumbled.

"You're probably good to go," he assumed, checking the time. "Unless if you were thinking of keeping it as an addition to your overall appearance." He was grinning fiercely as she glowered beneath him, "It's a bit more of a _radical_ change than makeup, I must say, but I could learn to live with you having a perpetual tissue in your nose. Is that some sort of quarian fashion trend going on right now?"

"_Bosh'ted_," Tali scowled as she made to pull it out.

* * *

_**A/N: Schedule's tightening up so regular updates might not be a thing very longer. On the upside, more than half the story has been completed at this point, so that's something.**_


	8. Chapter 7: No Smoking in the Lab

_The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer._

-Henry A. Kissinger

* * *

A casual observer of Illium would comment that the planet would seem relatively mild in terms of its inclement weather compared to several of its celestial peers. All of the major cities contained in that orb possessed relatively normal spreads in terms of their temperature and the sprawls of the urban areas were characteristic of any large area on a heavily colonized planet, thereby differentiating it little from any other developed world.

What many people do not realize about the planet that it is usually uncomfortably warm for most of the sapient species that call it home. The equator is so hot that the area in particular is considered unlivable. Perhaps that is why all the suburban areas were home to towering skyscrapers in an effort to escape the unbearable heat rising from the surface, preferring to let the cooler atmosphere save on air conditioning costs.

Despite originally being colonized by the asari some five hundred years ago, Illium had never been considered to be an asari world. The reason for this fact is because the planet teeters on the edge between Council space and the Terminus systems. To facilitate the disparate societies, Illium is seen as something of a haven for many Council species, as the strict regulations that are imposed on certain substances are relaxed in a manner that would suit anyone hailing from the Terminus and their savage ways. Unfortunately, this also gave rise to several mercenary groups operating on this planet, out of the Council's prying eyes and into the darker heart of Illium itself, taking full advantage of the legal loophole of which the planet comprised.

It made sense why the Coalition would use Illium as a place to hide their illicit activities as it provided all the modernity mixed with the slight paranoia that accompanied such oases. Considering the rest of the colonized planet, it made the most sense that the organization would choose the capital of Illium, Nos Astra, as its local headquarters. The largest city in the northernmost continent, just as the Leviathan had said. A widespread group would need access to whatever they needed in a timely manner, hence settling in the capital. Make no mistake, they were here somewhere.

Only problem was, in a city of a few million, looking out for a couple dozen was not going to be as easy as walking into a supermarket to buy milk.

This was exactly what Shepard was thinking of as his fully armored crew stalked around the local trade floor, a dark look on his face. Sure, the Leviathan had mentioned Illium as the place where their artifacts were located but couldn't it have been a little more specific in regards to the location within the city? It wasn't like they had a way to track the use of these artifacts, rendering them, for the moment, stuck. It seemed a bit early to be giving up so soon into this mission but trying to navigate a city while searching for a specific group of people was a practical impossibility from any standpoint, hence the lull in the investigation at the moment.

Since none of them had any clue as to where to start, Shepard found himself scowling at the nearest bar over a glass of beer, while everyone else ran some errands to take their mind of things. Maybe someone would get a brainwave over a trivial purchase in the meantime. Tali had only been gone for a few minutes on that specific purpose, wanting to upgrade her omni-tool and finding the correct patch within moments at the nearest kiosk. She now sat next to Shepard, engrossed in her tool as she tapped dutifully at the keyboard, installing the new software.

Kaidan had come back minutes later with a flashy new heat sink for his pistol, an illegal model in Council space but one he could use due to his Spectre status, nonetheless. It was true what most people said about Illium, everything one could imagine is legal, sans murder of course. But what was legal was cheap, much cheaper than tangling with whatever black market existed on those havens of law and order.

That probably was the reason why Garrus was looking so happy as he cradled a bottle of some amber liquid, now approaching the group's table. Judging by the stylish bottle, it had obviously been quite expensive, compared to the half-full glass containing some drink for the turian's use at the moment that he cradled in his other hand. It must have been potent because Garrus already looked quite drunk, a less impressive feat considering the turian's propensity to consume alcohol of all sorts given the right opportunity. Slamming the bottle down before depositing himself on the nearest chair, he gave a huff of triumph as he undoubtedly waited for someone to ask what sort of treasure he had been able to procure.

Shepard decided to amuse him. "What sort of treasure have you been able to procure, Garrus?"

"I'm glad you asked," the turian leaned forward, eyes glinting with smugness. "This, right here, is a forty-year-old dextro brandy, _Furra_. It's made in the Terminus and illegal in Council space."

"And what exactly is so special about this Furra?"

"Consistent high ratings plus its difficulty of procurement. It's made in the Terminus which is why it's illegal. And now_ I_ have a bottle of it, duty free of course."

"Of course," Shepard shrugged as he turned away, uninterested. Of all the purchases one could have come up with, this was the most useless. A bottle of brandy was getting them nowhere, even though Garrus was almost ecstatic. What they needed was some semblance of a lead that would get them out of this bar with a clear destination in mind.

Or maybe Garrus unintentionally had the right idea. Maybe the trick to this was to induce some kind of drunken recall by consuming that brandy in large quantities. It was a concept that Shepard was toying with in his mind but the consistent lack of any viable options was making this one look more and more appealing. Who knows, the alcohol might get him drunk just in time for some semblance of a brainwave before the dextro properties would make him extremely sick. Giving himself a mental check-over, Shepard was seriously concerned that he was even considering this idea in the first place.

Saving him from making a complete fool out of himself, Tali tore herself away from her fully calibrated omni-tool and nudged him where his ribs were on his N7 armor. "What are you thinking of?" she asked quietly, spotting his distant look as his beer sat untouched.

He pushed the drink aside, condensation clinging to the glass in plump beads, as Kaidan and Garrus began to strike up a conversation away from them. "I'm just frustrated right now," he admitted. "I feel like we should at least be making an attempt to find these guys but I don't have any idea of where to go right now."

"You feel like you're stuck." Her eyes behind her visor were saying different things entirely, though.

He shrugged, "I _am_ stuck, Tali. Stuck as to the fact that I have no idea where I want to go from here." Shepard glanced upward at the skyscrapers still towering miles above them, reaching past the clouds into the cold depth of space. "Or maybe it's the fact that I'm impatient. Impatient that I'm here in the first place, that I'm out running around again like I'm the star of some lame vid. I just want to get this over with so that I can live my life the way I want to instead of letting it become dictated and run by others."

"I know the feeling," Tali agreed.

"I mean, look at this thing," Shepard tugged at the collar of his armor. "I thought that there would never be another situation in which I had to put _this_ on again. In the blink of an eye, we're back onto the ship where everything started, back to square one. After all I've done, there's still one more thing left to do, one more task left undone. I can't help but think that everything is all going backwards when we're constantly trying to move forwards."

Tali waited for a few seconds as she pondered Shepard's statement. "I can't really offer a solution to this problem, John. All we can do is hope that things will be different."

"That's what I've been promising myself for the last few years," he sighed bitterly. "And all it's come up with is one new problem to worry about. One more thing to fix."

The both of them stared out at the lively crowd among the bar, patrons lining up to procure their drinks and descend into a haze of alcohol and EDM music. Shepard and Tali's glazed looks glossed over the faces, each one a meaningless blur in a sea of even more blurs. Compared to everyone around them, they were the most quiet, the most still. That is, until Tali's hand inexplicably ended up in Shepard's, turning her head to face him for an explanation but all she got in return was a simple smile.

Closing her eyes as she contemplated the feeling of five fingers against her three, she relaxed. "Maybe it's not what needs to be fixed that matters. Maybe it's what you've _already_ fixed that does."

Shepard did not respond but let his smile grow a tiny bit more, nodding in approval as he went back to people watching, Tali joining in shortly thereafter. Their silent activity was slowly but surely getting marred by the argument that Kaidan and a now clearly drunk Garrus were having on the opposite side of the table. The human's arms were stubbornly crossed while the turian was animatedly waving his.

Huffing at the incessant noise, Shepard craned his head around. "What the hell are you two arguing about _now?_" he groaned.

Kaidan sighed as he gestured to the wild-eyed Garrus. "We're just having a disagreement of sorts since we can't think of anything else to talk about. We were just commenting on the state of vids at the moment, commenting about the latest Blasto vid when Garrus here got very angry when I felt that Blasto 2 was superior to the original vid."

Shepard and Tali quizzically glanced at each other at that. In an apprehensive manner, Shepard blinked. "Say again?"

"Come on, Shepard," Garrus leaned over the table. "You have to tell Kaidan that the first Blasto is a classic of a vid, a true work of art!"

Blankly, Shepard subtly shook his head from side to side as his face morphed into disbelief. "I've never watched _any_ of the Blasto movies."

"You're kidding."

"Afraid not," Tali piped up. "John is very behind the times when it comes to entertainment and media. I had to practically wrench his arm to get him to watch _Fleet and Flotilla_."

"I _still_ have technically never seen it, seeing as the musical is not treated as the original version," he reminded her. "And I'm _not_ behind the times when it comes to visual media. I'll have both of you know that I've seen plenty of vids, but most have been the human vids that you would never watch otherwise. Watch some with me next time and I'll show you that I know what I'm talking about. Also, regarding _Fleet and Flotilla_ again, I'm not quite sure that the people who wrote those songs for that vid realized just how clichéd and phoned in the lyrics were. Maybe _that's_ why diehard fans reject that version so vehemently."

"Your translator probably just was malfunctioning," Tali wheedled in deflection as Garrus sniggered at the thought of Shepard sitting through a musical with a straight face. "You take vids _way_ too seriously."

Kaidan gave a look of leeway. "I suppose that's better than seeing nothing, in any case. But, really Shepard, how have you not seen any of the Blasto movies? They're great pulpy fun."

"I just don't see how realistic it is to have a hanar as an action hero in a movie with that many explosions. It doesn't seem very sensible, or logical…or enjoyable, for that matter. I don't suppose any of them are satirical in nature?"

"Shepard," Garrus slurred. "You don't go to a Blasto movie to expect an ultra-realistic experience or to experience satire in its most subtle form. You go simply to have fun, it's a vid where you just sit back and enjoy the pretty lights as they fly right by you."

"Garrus, you're drunk. Shut up. I haven't seen a Blasto movie and I never will." Glancing at Tali worriedly, he pointed at her, "_Don't_ get any ideas there. It's _my_ turn to pick next movie night and Blasto won't be it."

She playfully stuck her tongue out at him from underneath her helmet. "Says you."

Failing to provide a response in a timely manner, Shepard automatically reached for his still full beer, at least wanting to consume part of it before it became warm. He raised the glass to his lips and took a hearty swig, letting the liquid travel down his throat, now fully invested in ignoring the two men across from him who had since resumed their arguing. He took another swallow, wincing at the bubbles that were traveling upward in his mouth, now noting the fact that this beer was a little sweet for his taste before another voice popped up behind him.

"I leave you guys alone and it seems you can't help but dissolve into mass hysteria," Liara noted dryly as she pulled up a chair next to Tali. "And it always seems to be _you_ in the middle of these things, Garrus. Pray tell, what is the topic of interest this time?"

Garrus belched, eyes bulging for a second before answering, "Well, T'Soni, do you think Blasto 2 is better than Blas-"

"Forget I asked," she said quickly, turning away to fully disengage herself. "Are they seriously arguing over movies?" she asked Shepard.

"This is what happens when boredom mixed with drunkenness does to someone," Shepard noted, waving a hand at the two. "Since you don't seem bored nor particularly drunk, Liara, what did _you_ do on your errands?"

Still glancing worryingly across the table, Liara paused a bit before answering, "Well, seeing as the bulk of stuff everyone set out to do was done with rather shallow intentions, I would think that the news I bring would be met with more glad tidings." She cleared her throat as she brought up her omni-tool. "Seeing as I still have some contacts left on Illium from my old Shadow Broker days, I thought I'd put them to good use."

Shepard set his glass down, interested. "Anything you managed to uncover?"

"Yes, now that you mention it. Apparently there has been some rather curious activity surrounding the Dantius towers as of a few months ago."

"Dantius towers…" The name sounded familiar to Shepard. "Oh yes, Nassana Dantius. The woman that Thane killed right before we recruited him. Why is that significant?"

"Actually, since Dantius was killed, they've been going by the Spyre towers as of late. However, a lack of funds in the construction sector on Illium, mixed with scathing claims from the workers unions means that construction of the towers was halted shortly after Thane put an end to that woman's madness. The curious thing is, that very recently, construction on the towers quietly resumed, but no union has claimed rights on the project."

"So this couldn't simply be a private operation?" Tali suggested.

"I checked at the bureau of labor. No one is allowed to begin any large construction project without a union involved, and all unions have to submit a record of the projects they've undertaken for each season. No one is claiming the Spyre towers at this moment, based on the records that I've checked, and no one can run a private operation on Illium without stirring up a fuss in the corporate sector. The funny thing is, that despite the overwhelming evidence of actual progress with regards to the structure plus a few processed complaints from union delegates, no one is taking any action against this."

Shepard pushed his beer as far away from him as possible. He needed all of his wits intact right now. "Then enough people have taken notice of this for them to become concerned. So, it would have to be a group with an extreme amount of pull to get any overhanging threat away from them. Could it be as simple as a bribe that's keeping people away?"

"On Illium?" Liara snorted. "Bribery's very common but for something as big as this, someone would need a lot of money to bribe the right people. Knowing the planet, that number of people required to bribe in the right places could run very high, and the bribes would also have to be astronomical in figure. No, my guess is that someone running the towers now gave out a physical threat, a much simpler alternative. In this world, the right words said at the right time is enough to get everything done around here, provided one is proven to carry out such a threat."

"It's more than we had five minutes ago," Shepard reasoned. "If we find the Coalition, we can find the location of the next bomb, if there even _is_ one. I'd want to scout out the towers first, just to be safe. Liara, see if you can grab us a couple of taxis and we can-" A loud bout of snoring interrupted him and Shepard looked to the side to see Garrus passed out in his chair, his head lolled backwards as his tongue hung loosely out of his mouth. Shepard's gaze passed to the glass in front of Garrus and he silently wondered just what the hell was in that one drink that made the turian conk out like that. "Oh, for god's sake…" he sighed. "On second thought, Liara, Tali and I will handle the taxis while you go and grab something to get this guy awake."

Liara rolled her eyes but stopped to take a picture of the immobilized turian before departing to procure the medication in question to get Garrus onto his feet, leaving two lucid humans and a quarian staring hotly at the blissful turian as he dozed.

Shepard crossed his arms over his chest grumpily. "I should've just gotten a coffee," he grumbled.

* * *

The sensation of vertigo was overwhelming as Tali tried not to look down from the rafters. Struggling to control her breathing as she was nearing the point of hyperventilating, she backed up a few steps from the edge until she was several feet away. As long as she could not see the ground about a mile and a half down, this was fine. The wind at this height was incredible, threatening to tug her off this building and down into the metal and neon canyon below. Sitting down so that she could lessen the risk of falling and tumbling off, she opened up her omni-tool to distract herself and began fiddling with the remote hack option while the other accomplished whatever they needed to do.

Shepard, of course, did not seem to be fazed by the fact that the five of them were standing on a balcony overlooking the Spyre towers on the next skyscraper over. He was in a prone position next to Garrus, staring through their sniper rifles as they looked out across the endless lanes of traffic to their target building.

The turian had been successfully roused some fifteen minutes ago, now fully alert and sober after consuming a few pills designed to stave off drunkenness for an intermediate period of time. The side effect of this medication would undoubtedly result in a debilitating headache in roughly six hours but that was six hours until Garrus was potentially out of commission, enough time for doing whatever they were about to do. The pharmaceutical companies still had to get that little bug corrected.

Glancing away from the scope of his Black Widow, the turian looked back at Tali and Kaidan, who were leaning against the nearest skycar, then to Shepard who also was finishing his remote recon. "Well, what do you think?" Garrus asked, adjusting himself so that the roaring winds bit less severely at his face.

Shepard looked back down his rifle as he answered, the fading light from the sun falling across his face. "If you want a preliminary assessment, then this place certainly fits the bill." He eyed through the scope as his circular view fell onto a group of men wandering around the side of the nearest tower. "All the people I've seen so far have been heavily armored, not at all like construction workers." He zoomed in to get a closer look on one man's chest. "I see no insignia, only a set of custom armor, all black. Much like the guys who attacked us on Rannoch."

"Yeah," Garrus agreed. "They certainly aren't Eclipse, I'll give them that. They seem too well fortified to be mercs. The possibility of them being Coalition is quite strong at this point."

"Then there is a good chance of those artifacts being here." Shepard spotted movement on the floor below, adjusting his rifle to peer through the windows, having just a second to catch a hazy blue glow before the panes automatically darkened, sealing off visual access to the outside world. "And I think I just found them," he finished with a smile.

"Any plans on how you want to handle this?"

"No sense in taking the same route we did last time. I want to take things as quick as possible. Has your sniping deteriorated since last I've known you?"

"Are you kidding?" Garrus gaped. "If anything, I've _improved_ since I beat your ass on the Citadel that day."

"Uh-huh, _sure_," Shepard said quickly in a disinterested manner. "Then I'm going to need you to stay up here for a bit and take out the guys on the rightmost tower on the exposed walkway. Liara, Tali, and I will be en route at that point so you and Kaidan will have to act fast."

"Me?" Kaidan questioned. "I'm not a sniper, Shepard, I don't think I could even pull off a shot at that range."

"Then you're going to be Garrus' spotter. I need the both of you to stay up here until you have cleared the area of all enemies and then you will bring the other skycar around to the building where we will infiltrate and ransack the lab from two sides."

"Roger," Garrus growled, not taking his eyes off the men milling about in his killzone. "When do you want to execute?"

"Whenever you're ready," Shepard said as he stood, backing up to the nearest skycar. "The mission starts right now."

"He's not one to take things slow, is he?" Kaidan asked drolly as he watched the transport fly up and away with the rest of the crew on board, procuring an external scope.

"Never has been," Garrus answered in kind, checking the wind speed on his dial before angling the barrel of his gun up to adjust for distance. The readout on his scope also took the planet's natural gravity into account and he nudged the crosshairs down just a hair. One man was leaning over the balcony, enjoying a smoke and standing still. The perfect target.

With uncanny precision, nothing but the wind in his ears, everything else pushed out, Garrus squeezed the trigger and felt the enormous pressure of the recoil bite into his shoulder as the slug departed the confines of his rifle. He was still looking through the scope and watched as the human's head in the distance disappeared into a mess of red, as if someone burst a balloon filled with red paint upon the ground.

The sound of the report would be lost in the swell of traffic, causing the rest of the Coalition to remain, for the moment, blissfully unaware that one of their own was down. That would remain so for just another while longer as the turian's next shot punctured just below a batarian's armpit, completely destroying the organs within. The alien's helmet dripped blood from where it met the neck a second before the force of the shot completely sent him over the bridge, toppling down below to smash into paste on the ground.

Kaidan eyed the turian thoughtfully as he looked away from his scope. "You don't really need a spotter, do you?"

"Never have," Garrus responded curtly, firing once more, the round taking a salarian's head off as it entered just below the neck.

By now, the final three men on the balcony saw the few bodies that had not fallen off of the building at this point and they immediately started hiding behind whatever cover they could find in the area, obviously shouting at one another for some semblance of an angle on whoever was attacking them.

The problem on their end was that none of them knew where the shooting was originating from and that the lack of this critical bit of information completely made their cover useless, giving Garrus a clear line on them from his vantage point. One human had his helmet off and was in the process of activating his omni-tool, profusely sweating as he looked to be on the verge of cursing his heart out in panic. He lacked the tech armor of an engineer so that only meant that he was going to use his tool as a radio.

Like Garrus was going to let _that_ happen.

Exhaling thoughtfully, Garrus felt the rifle jerk in his grip and waited for the fateful outcome to occur. Hopefully he had aimed true and timely enough. Thankfully, his reputation was kept intact as the man about to unquestionably radio for reinforcements was unceremoniously silenced as the bullet hit directly in the center of mass, blowing him apart from within. His colleague crouched next to him only had nanoseconds to perceive an explosion of blood and bone before the still traveling bullet punched a hole clean through him as well, creating a massive, fist-sized opening in his back as the contents of his stomach were quickly evacuated through it. Falling to the ground, he only had one full second to comprehend the brief pain before he died.

Not breaking his stride any, Garrus turned his rifle to rest on the final Coalition member, watching him stand up as he finished witnessing the horrific deaths in his midst, momentarily leaving his senses behind. Garrus reminded him of his last mistake by firing one last time, letting the spent heat sink clatter over the edge to the balcony below. The batarian on the side of the Spyre towers had not moved and any last activity made by his body was from his malfunctioning nervous system as his head messily came off his shoulders. The bullet had hit the alien on the corner of his head in a downward arc, surging through his eyeball and frontal lobe, blowing the top of his helmet off, and allowing his brains to fountain in the air.

Kaidan gave an impressed noise as Garrus twitched his mandibles once in victory, quickly rising to a crouch as his rifle folded inward, the components clicking in place. He keyed his comm, already heading over to the spare skycar atop the building, connecting to the other contact on his list in the general area.

"Shepard, all hostiles on the building have been cleared. We are about to join you."

* * *

"Copy that, Garrus. Nice job." Shepard deactivated the comm as the elevator quickly descended one floor, all three of them having their weapons out and ready. The turian actually had finished dispatching the last of the troops a good ten seconds before their transport had touched down on the tower, leaving them no mess to clean up. Quick, efficient, and relatively clean. A good start to this op so far.

There was no time to consider further with the plan as the elevator quickly opened, revealing a pair of guards in front of a large set of locked doors, flanking it on either side. However, Tali and Liara had been ready for this, and their silenced weapons spat a few times and the Coalition guards dropped, their blood staining the walls they had been previously propped against.

The rest of the hallway was deserted, just a few tables and chairs aimlessly milling about on the carpeted floor. Not much progress had been made on construction the last time any of them had been here. Parts of the ceiling were uncovered and stacks of deck plating and siding were set alongside the walls, waiting to be inserted into the foundation of the towers themselves. Loose wires hung in bundles from the rafters, thick pipes ran along the walls. The place looked more like a fabrication plant rather than a cushy office building.

Tali quickly walked over to the nearest one and began to hack into his omni-tool, breaking in almost immediately. She quickly found a set of sensitive files embedded in his memory banks, including a passcode for the door that they were next to. Sloppy of them, guards should not be entrusted with this sort of information. Within moments, she had the code copied over to her tool and she established a link with the door control console, inputting it into the system. The door then flashed green, ready to be opened.

Shepard was surprised at how easy this was turning out to be, as a plan this ambitious had a lot of room for error, considering the stakes involved. A nagging feeling just begun to pierce his mind as he raised a hand to activate the icon when the doors suddenly opened and a big form leaped out from behind them, hands outstretched to grasp at Shepard's throat.

Falling backward, Shepard yelled in surprise and alarm as Randolph drew a knife atop him and raised his arm to plunge it into the base of his neck. Tali yelled in shock and Liara stood by the door, stunned. Shepard grasped the man's wrist with his hands, suddenly straining to not let the blade move toward him another inch.

_What, did he think a gun wasn't appropriate?_

Randolph was not on top for long for Shepard threw his legs upward and the agent lost his balance, pitching forward head-first over Shepard, tucking into a roll so that he could spring up on his feet. Shepard quickly rose too, brushing himself off as he drew his pistol, ready to fire. Randolph, however, dove for the nearest cover behind a stack of deck plating, sheathing his knife for the moment.

The brief lull made Shepard aware of his surroundings as he looked back momentarily. "Tali, take care of the lab!" he called. "I've got this, just make sure that none of those artifacts remain intact, go!"

If she had been bordering on uncertainty, it was all quenched as Shepard's words sunk in. Trusting in him to hold out as long as he could, she quickly made haste into the room with Liara as the sounds of gunfire started behind her. Fear and doubt had been pushed away at this point, she had a damn job to do and she had better accomplish it.

The interior of the lab was a typical white, and completely crowded with the odd spheres, much to her shock. They were crammed onto every table in the room and stacked along the far wall, giving an unearthly blue glow over the area. There had to be at least a couple hundred here, more than enough to allow for reverse engineering several times over, but that was not all the room contained.

Half a dozen technicians plus a small group of soldiers glanced upwards towards the ruckus occurring from the hallway as the sound of guns and exchanged curses echoed into the chamber. Tali had swapped her pistol for her shotgun at this point but there seemed to be more of the civilians here than the armed soldiers. She teetered on what to do; she did not want to shoot any workers unless it was absolutely necessary. She knew that this was just because it was what Shepard would have done, avoid indiscriminate slaughter.

Depending on her point of view at the time, one of the technicians quickly turned into a target as he fumbled with a hidden pistol from his lab coat. Operating purely on reflex, she pointed the gun in his direction and shot the man, staring as his white coat was shredded from the blast, fabric wisping into the air as the faint mist of blood joined it. Liara quickly got the memo and swiped her arm outward in a biotic push, sending a tray of glass equipment shattering into the face of another human, this one shrieking as the glass sliced up his flesh, starting to bleed profusely from several dozen cuts before Liara shot him in the heart.

The split second advantage had come and gone, the rest of the Coalition quickly drawing their guns and opening fire on the two. The deafening noises from the chatter of machine guns beat a staccato tempo into Tali's head, her brain pulsing with each blast as the air was rudely forced out of the way. Papers flew every which way, glass shattered in all directions, and a small fires erupted from the touch of incendiaries.

Adrenaline forcing the distracting noises out, Tali calmly crouch-walked over to the nearest set of counters, waiting for the room to calm before she could strike again. She breathed in and out carefully, an old trick Shepard had shown her to help relax her nerves, recalling old feelings of harsh battle, the stale stink of ozone and blood in the air through her olfactory filters. This was just another skirmish, another walk in the park. She slowly squeezed the gun in her arms, finding comfort in the unyielding material as the plasma caster hummed within the frame, a gift from a geth prime on Rannoch.

The firing ceased momentarily as a few soldiers either stopped to reload or to check their targets. She was ready, the timing was _now_.

Rolling from behind the counter, she surprised a tech that had been attempting to sneak up on her from the side. Seeing him flinch in fear, she was unafraid as she loosed a burst of plasma into the man's leg, severing it, and sending him to the floor where she put him down for good as she cracked the butt of her gun over the batarian's head. A blow like that was probably lethal but she didn't take note of it, only that he was neutralized for the duration of this encounter.

Surging forward, she flipped a nearby table over to act as a makeshift cover, now moved upward enough to get a clear shot at the target behind the next set of counters, a soldier as he whirled to face the threat. A second later and he collapsed as the white-hot plasma from the shotgun melted a hole in his chest, the material of his armor already turning soft and beginning to drip.

Now that the attention was diverted away from her, Liara rose from her cover and tossed a grenade in the center of the room. A white flash sounded and two more untrained technicians were sent flying through the air. The force of the detonation caused several beakers on the nearby tables to upend, as well as sent a few of the artifacts on the back wall rolling off the counter and down to the ground with a dull _thunk_. The ground lightly shook after each one of the pulsing spheres made contact, they must have weighed several hundred kilograms if they were making that sort of impact.

The incoming fire on Tali seemed to be concentrated better now that their enemies were getting more desperate, chewing away through the table that she was still entrenched behind. Wood splinters were sent flying through the air as she remained stoic behind it. Tali was considering whipping out Chiktikka for a moment until an extremely loud blast was heard, followed by cries of surprise and alarm. Gingerly, she peered out to see what all the commotion was and let herself smile widely once she saw the source.

Garrus and Kaidan had sprung out from the back door, electing to blow that one open with a explosive rather than utilize Tali's deft touch at hacking. Springing out of a side roll, Garrus let loose another shot from his sniper rifle, one more round to end the day with. The soldier who had gotten unlucky enough to be in the crosshairs suddenly felt the lower half of his body become suddenly torn away as what remained of his torso was displaced several feet across the room, minus some organs that had fallen from his freshly bisected body in the process.

While Garrus was occupied with reloading, Kaidan focused on the two remaining techs, a human and a salarian, while the final soldier dived for cover. Depressing the trigger in short, controlled bursts, the Spectre mused that this whole thing felt very much like training back at the academy: clear, defined targets in contrast to the environment, loud noises that were meant to distract you, and the familiar feel of a rifle that obeys your every command with the slightest touch. Kaidan paused from his brief reflection as the two smoking bodies lay still, automatically tracking the last enemy in the room.

Perhaps sensing that his judgment was fast approaching, the final soldier decided that he was not going to face it willingly, as he elected to instead prime a grenade and stood up to throw it. Unfortunately for his rather short-lived charge, his moment of glory was interrupted as a burst from Tali's shotgun propelled him out the window, still clutching his grenade as he fell with the shattered panes, the neon light from outside reflecting momentarily. She did not need to witness for herself if the man had been properly dealt with, the distant boom that echoed seconds later told her all she needed to know. At least that soldier would not be left with his life flashing before his eyes as he fell anymore, if there was anything left of him to actually _fall_.

There was no time to mull over it now as Tali could still hear raised voices from beyond the threshold, a brief report coming through from time to time. _John_. She jogged back to one of the tables, fishing a couple timed grenades from her pocket as she set one next to a cluster of artifacts. She had previously seen these things get properly destroyed by anything such as a close-range explosion or even a few seconds of sustained gunfire. Everyone in the room quickly started doing the same thing, taking the proper steps to place the grenades in even intervals around the room so that not one sphere would remain untouched.

_The sins of the past, come back to haunt us…never again, _Tali thought as she hurried with linking the explosives, desperate to assist her faithful human in the hallway.

* * *

The sounds of ricocheting bullets careened up and down the hallway as each combatant took turns scrambling for cover, trading gunfire along the way. In the midst of his turn, he stuck his arm out and blindly depressed the trigger on his assault rifle for cover before running towards the nearest doorway that brought him closer to Randolph.

Sparks barely missed his body as he threw himself to safety, having a few seconds to catch his breath. He popped the heat sink on his gun and looked down to procure a fresh one when something started to rattle next to him. He looked down at the ground and saw a solitary grenade, its dead-man switch rapidly blinking down.

There was no time to escape, the only thought that went through his head was _get it out of here_. Doing just that, he thrust his leg out and kicked the offending sphere towards the other side of the hallway, where it detonated just feet away from him. Bits of aluminum and wood siding pelted down on his head but he was unharmed, for the most part.

"You should have just stayed at home, Shepard!" the other man yelled from his position. "It would have gone a lot easier for you!"

Shepard could not help but bark a harsh laugh. "Stay at home?! That's precisely what I was _meaning_ to do until you barged your way into my house! At least, I'm sure that was you, the one that got away, right?"

"To fight another day," the man replied proudly. "The name's Randolph and –" the agent was forced to duck as Shepard surged from his position, firing on the cover with his rifle, forcing Randolph to stay put. Shepard lifted his finger off the trigger momentarily to let the man think he was out of bullets. Seeing the faint silhouette shift behind a stack of boards, he grinned and fired anew, causing Randolph to quickly duck back down again. When his heat sink finally did eject, he moved behind a forklift to calm his adrenaline-riddled nerves.

"I really don't care who you are," Shepard called. "To me, you're just another punk with a gun, embarking on another hopeless self-crusade to boost your already over-inflated ego."

"Yeah, well _this_ punk with a gun managed to execute two Cerberus informants after infiltrating a highly guarded prison and managed to divulge your location when you were in hiding. I'm more capable than you think."

"What, Brooks and Petrovsky? Oh yeah, it must have been real hard trying to kill two unarmed prisoners on a distant prison ship. Word of advice, prison _breaks_ are much harder to accomplish. I should know, I've _done_ one. You'd be surprised at how much effort it takes busting someone out rather than breaking in yourself. Any more pathetic accomplishments to rattle off your resume?"

Randolph responded by leveling a concussion blast at the forklift, almost tipping it over before he whipped out the Revenant machine gun from his back, firing on full auto, roaring from the taunts. The Revenant might not be the most accurate gun on the market but it had the largest clip, able to rattle off over a hundred shots in a quarter of a minute. Judging by how careless Randolph was acting with his ammo, he was either really stupid or this fight was going to take a while before he ran out of bullets.

"Touched a nerve, have I?" Shepard grinned. "I don't suppose I can talk you into lowering your weapon because this whole thing is getting to be rather repetitive. You sure you don't have anything else up your sleeve to make this a little more exciting?"

"Shut the fuck up, Shepard!" Randolph screamed, spittle flying through his mouth. "I'm the most dangerous son of a bitch you have ever faced in your entire life!"

Shepard fought to control his laughter for this guy was more comedic than threating. He was so full of himself it was simply amazing to witness. "I…" Shepard quickly bit his tongue to prevent himself from laughing heartily. "I can safely say that based on my past experiences, you are no more dangerous than an unarmored vorcha. I mean, every person that has proven themselves to be a direct threat to me or my crew has successfully bested me in combat at least once in the past. All _you've_ done is completely botch a home invasion which led to me practically booting you out my front door. Hell, _Kai Leng_ was less inept of a combatant than you." He paused for a bit to let the words sink in. "But do you want to know the interesting bit? Those people that I talked about besting me before? They're all dead now, so what does that say about _your_ chances at the moment?"

Randolph gave no answer except the furious clang of a hard object against the metal of the forklift. A quiet beeping sound was coming from the tiny, round thing which made Shepard sigh in realization. Springing to his feet and diving for the nearest stack of boards, he felt himself rudely pushed away, tumbling on his side as the grenade detonated, the wave of pressure assaulting his eardrums and giving the world a harsh ring. Ignoring the bits of flaming debris around him, he groaned and picked up his pistol when he realized that Randolph was _right there_.

Shepard quickly raised an arm to block the incoming blow, feeling the harsh twinge as he deflected Randolph's fist with his forearm. Returning in kind, he shot his right fist out and successfully landed it on Randolph's chest but the armor took the brunt of the blast. The implanted man grinned wildly, white shining through his artificial features as he quickly pivoted on a foot, giving Shepard one last moment of incredulity before the roundhouse kick smacked him firmly on the jaw, causing him to collapse on the ground, out of the fight.

_Great, more acrobatics._

As he fell, his arm brushed the remains of the front of the forklift, upending the winch attached to it and letting the spooled cable spill out over the floor. He stirred on the ground, trying to blink the pain away as his vision danced with blurry and meaningless shapes. Figures of many colors shone beyond the long windows extending out into the Nos Astra cityscape, the lights burning brightly like candles in a dark cave. They all blended together like a rainbow until he felt something unceremoniously turn him over, causing him to stare up at Randolph as he pointed the muzzle of his Revenant at his face, the operative seemingly towering over him as he grinned in a fierce snarl.

"_Just_ a punk with a gun?" came the inevitable whisper.

Shepard instinctively closed his eyes, desperately searching for a fitting final memory. One of Tali would be nice, preferably one of her smiling at him from the bed of their house as they lay peacefully together. For a split second, he relaxed until he heard the harsh clatter of something dropping next to him, causing him to instinctively flinch. Dimly realizing that the noise he heard was not of a bullet exiting the confines of a gun, he cautiously opened one eye a crack and stared in amazement.

The Revenant had fallen out of Randolph's grip but the man made no move to bend over and pick it up. Something was preventing him from doing just that as his jaw locked in place, his eyes bulged, and his limbs twitched as if he was experiencing a seizure standing straight up, electricity traveling across his face. Confused, Shepard shook his head as his vision finally cleared from the intense kick, standing up until he noticed the person standing behind Randolph.

Omni-tool out, Tali stepped around the frozen operative, watching the man's implants glow brilliantly as she clucked mockingly. "You might not be _just_ a punk with a gun," she told the incapacitated Randolph, "But you happen to be a punk with enough implants to enable me to control you remotely." She stepped up to him as she thrust her helmeted face right in front of the man. "Isn't that ironic?"

"_Damn_, Tali," Shepard chuckled as he bent to catch his breath. "You always did have a flair for the dramatic."

"Couldn't be helped, seeing as I had to save you once _again_."

"Yeah, yeah." Shepard now eyed Randolph, who seemed to be frantically trying to move his limbs in every direction, struggling to get free from his invisible bonds. "I didn't know you could do something like this, though. Do all implants just so callously allow third-party control?"

Randolph's comically shaped eyes were looking back from Shepard to Tali, horrified as they continued in their meandering fashion. "I wouldn't say callous," Tali thought out loud. "Just the right amount of implants plus a little intuition and…what you see is what you get. Complete control over all motor functions."

"Impressive," Shepard raised his eyebrows at the still immobilized Randolph, kicking away the Revenant. "You handle all the artifacts in the lab?"

"Just need to get clear of the place so we can blow it safely."

"Find out anything about where the next bomb might be?"

"No, but I want to see if there are a few more tricks that this dog can do." Touching a control on her omni-tool, Randolph gasped as his jaw was suddenly set free, able to move up and down now while the rest of his body remained in place. "Now," Tali said dangerously as she walked up to Randolph, holding her tool high so that he could plainly see it. "The coordinates of the next bomb, where is it?"

A strangled laugh emanated from Randolph's throat. "I won't talk to the likes of you, _bitch_."

"Too bad," Tali sighed, depressing a button. "This could have gone a lot easier for you." The implants on Randolph's face flared blindingly white as energy now pulsed through them, a response from Tali's hostile takeover as nerves in the operative's brain sparked against his will. "I just assumed control of your nervous system. It's a bit crude but you'll be able to tell me anything I want to hear truthfully and immediately. Remarkable, how you've allowed yourself to be completely integrated with these implants, yet this glaring drawback had gone unnoticed. What a pity…for _you_. Where is the next bomb located?"

"Thirty two…" came the prompt, monotone reply as Randolph's eyes rolled upward in an effort to halt his mouth from speaking further, "Seven…seven five…eight degrees…north….ninety six…seven nine six…seven degrees…south…"

"Coordinates…" Tali murmured as Shepard edged forward in interest. "Which _planet_, you filth?" Tali growled as she grabbed Randolph's collar, shaking him. "Tell me. _Tell me!_"

If Randolph could have dropped dead at the moment, he would have liked nothing more. "Earth…two days…" he croaked out, eyes finally slumping down as he ceased all resistance in his captor's grip.

"We have no time to lose, then," Shepard said as he grasped Tali's shoulder, gently pulling her away. "We have to get going if we need to stop this from happening."

Tali walked backward a few steps before glancing back at Randolph with hatred. "What do you want to do with…_him?_"

Shepard focused on the still stiff human, struggling against his own implants as they continued to betray him further. Shepard felt his jaw, gently prodding the area where the agent's boot had landed, already feeling a bruise starting to form. "It's up to you, Tali. He's your prisoner. Seeing as he had the audacity to attack us in our own home and the fact that we don't have time to drop him off at the local police station, I would simply shoot him and leave him here."

"I was considering that as well," she said thoughtfully. "But I have the feeling that shooting him would be too kind for this arrogant bastard."

"Do you have another solution in mind?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." Walking back over to Randolph, she stood between him and the wall, peering out the tall window behind the man. Hanging her head as she comprehended her actions briefly, she suddenly looked straight ahead as her eyes blazed with a fury that Shepard rarely had seen before. In two quick steps, she walked forward before raising a foot and kicking out with a powerful leg, hitting Randolph in the chest and sending him through the plate-glass window.

There was no sound as the human fell, only the harsh crack of splintering glass as he was torn apart by the jagged edges. Appalled, Shepard walked over to the edge, Tali joining him, to see Randolph's falling body gradually fade from view until it was struck by a passing truck, sending his limp body spinning fatefully into the nearby biomass generator halfway down the building, harsh smoke erupting as Randolph was shredded to pieces.

"_Huh_," Tali scratched at her helmet, "That was a bit more violent than I had anticipated."

"Pretty extreme," Shepard agreed, now eyeing the massive hole in the window from Randolph's body, growing more and more impressed. "But it was probably necessary. Good riddance to that crazy _bosh'tet_."

"Ah, see!" Tali exclaimed as she nudged Shepard. "You're beginning to talk like a quarian now! I guess I really _am_ rubbing off on you."

"I dare anyone to live with you for over a year and _not_ make it out having picked up on a bit of Khelish slang," he retorted. "You're more infectious than you realize."

"Stop it, you," Tali took a playful swing at Shepard, who merrily ducked as they opened the door to the nearest stairwell, ascending to the roof where the skycars were waiting. "Going back to Earth, huh," she stated matter-of-factly. "Well, it does save on us having to travel long distance to make it for our wedding."

"As long as the Coalition isn't willing to bomb New Zealand, that is."

"I should certainly hope not," Tali snorted in indignation. "Whoever delays _my_ wedding day will be forced to go into hiding because I will hunt them down for as long as they live, and when I _do_ catch them, I will shove them out the nearest airlock and use their frozen corpse to adorn the Normandy as a hood ornament!"

Spotting Shepard's horrified look, Tali burst out laughing and gave him a light punch to the arm, reveling in his shocked expression. "Only kidding, John. I'm not so disturbed that I would do anything as macabre as _that!_"

"Well, I'm certainly glad to hear that!" Shepard declared worryingly.

"Yeah, I'll just _shoot_ them dead instead."

* * *

_**A/N: I guess my initial worries at this being an extremely short chapter were completely off the mark. So much for hindsight.**_

_**As I said before, a few events in my personal life might cause me to delay the next few chapters but nothing so extreme that I would have to declare a temporary hiatus. I've gone too far to back out now. But it probably means that I won't be writing for a while after I finish this up, but I'm not ready to retire yet!**_

_**There are still more stories to tell.**_


	9. Chapter 8: Southern Hospitality

_Nothing crushes freedom as substantially as a tank._

-Shirley Temple

* * *

Rannoch – Three months prior

_As the intense cry of pleasure finished its projection around the room, Tali gasped loudly and collapsed on her side, too weak to hold herself up anymore, letting the cool sheets of the bed absorb her burning heat. A thin sheen of sweat shone on her chest, the brief draft passing over her damp skin and chilling her slightly. Frantically trying to gulp her air back, her glowing pupils were wide as she struggled to physically contain herself. Her hands clutching at herself, she began to take in the feeling of lying on the bed alone. Letting out a weak whimper, she turned over and reached out to the person next to her, desperate for more interaction. Finishing with his own euphoria, the human sharing the bed groaned and also turned on his side, his strong arms meeting her own halfway, taking in her scent as he inhaled deeply. _

_She maneuvered willingly into Shepard's embrace, her arms automatically moving to grasp around him, one hand placed on his spine, the other against the back of his head, her three fingers gently rubbing the hair on his scalp, enjoying the faint tickling sensations from doing so. He, in turn, also put a hand on the back of her head, feeling her long strands of jet black hair between his fingers, his other moving to her angular hip, gently rubbing a thumb against the protruding bone. The hand gradually started moving upward, first to her stomach, where he felt the firm muscles of her abdomen tense as she breathed heavily, then to her breast, making Tali moan once more as he kneaded a grey nipple between two fingers, and finally to her upper back, feeling her tremble everywhere he touched her on her bare, silvery skin._

_Unable to control her keen of need, Shepard immediately responded by kissing her long and deep, the both of them holding each other in place as they lay naked on the bed together. They closed their eyes as the sensations from the kiss resounded throughout their bodies, containing within them a desire to remain like this for an eternity, sharing this moment with the soul of his soul, his saera._

_As the majority of the quarian populace lived most of their lives contained within their enviro-suits, their sexual promiscuity ranked among the lowest of all the sapient species in the galaxy. Taking into account that a huge percentage of that population only mates with one partner for the rest of their natural lives only narrowed the statistics even further in the galactic sense as well as the general quarian population. Given that any activity performed outside of these precious suits is a potentially fatal act only helped solidify this rather celibate aspect of quarian culture, having them only choosing to mate for the purposes of breeding children and for naught else._

_However, being a human, Shepard lacked that mindset that quarians are naturally engrained with, his natural mating tendencies automatically being less altruistic than quarians. He had no reason to worry about the potential risk of germs or the logistics of naturally fathering a child. The incompatibility of their amino acid chiralities made the latter outcome a definite impossibility. As for Tali, she could only be outside of her suit for limited amounts of time and that was only after she had thoroughly prepared beforehand by bolstering her immune system through the use of various drugs. It was not a smooth process by any stretch, but the both of them were determined to make any act of intimacy work for as long as it needed to be._

_Much to Tali's great fortune, her immune system, weak though it may be, adapted to the environment of their house very quickly during the first few nights she had removed her suit, resulting in her taking a few more risks than she normally would have undergone after that. It really was not like they had anything better to do in the meantime. They still considered the fact that the war had robbed them of most of their chances to be together throughout that period, but now they were determined to make up some of that lost time._

_In a galaxy where one would use the term "nepotism" extremely loosely to describe the current mating situation, most pairings for humans at this time were still firmly with other humans. With the exception of the asari, who deliberately made efforts to bond with others outside of their species, most of the races in the galaxy conformed to this normal pattern, preferring to keep such affairs "within the family," so to speak. Regardless, relationships with others like turians or salarians were not such foreign affairs, as others could manage to find comfort in the embrace of one who truly cared about them, the issue of race or chirality sagely cast aside._

_Even so, it was a relatively rare case to see a human bonded with a quarian, or any other dextro species for that fact. Quarians were probably the most introverted race in the galaxy as they preferred to keep their personal lives all in-house, rarely setting out to mate with someone of a different race, an alien in a blunt sense. This aspect of their culture might have been the main turn off for other species regarding choosing quarians as lifemates, as well as the fact that potential partners could be amino-acid incompatible, meaning that they would be unable to spawn. Other reasons for this avoidance would most likely involve taking into account old stereotypes and letting incorrect perceptions paint an unflattering picture of quarians in general, or not even attempt to bond simply from frustration at the total lack of being able to see the facial features of a quarian through their visors, as it is a common reaction for people to desire some form of visual responsiveness, a quality that quarians lacked, for the moment. All shallow reasons but there were few out there who would openly admit their prejudices about such matters._

_But for Shepard, that was just one of the reasons why he found this whole relationship so special, that he knew of no one else in his circles or anyone at all that openly chose a quarian as a lifetime partner. To him, the whole experience was life-changing, and very extraordinary. Knowing that, when he was alone with that quarian in question, to see her looking at him and knowing that she truly loved him and the knowledge that she would be unable to love anyone else gave a stir in his heart like nothing had ever done before. Tali had completely surrendered her love to him, and he gave his own right back. There was no risk of infidelity carried out between either of them, it is an aspect practically unheard of to quarians and Shepard was too besotted to even think about anyone else. Hell, he would have pledged his love to her even if she could never remove her mask for as long as she lived, for he was so confident in loving the woman for just who she was that how she looked was completely secondary to him._

_That aspect was more like attaching an anchor to a ship that already contained an anchor originally. If anything, the sight of her, exposed and free, only made him more attracted to her, both at the physical and emotional level. After all, it was not like her looks was the deciding aspect that caused him to become interested in Tali in the first place. The fact that she was a lovely looking woman was simply a bonus. Removal of one's suit was a sign of complete and total trust in the other, a privilege that few would earn but one that Shepard could claim as he continued to gaze at the beautiful quarian to his heart's content._

_As Shepard was a very observant and a very understanding human, a true paragon amongst his species, his reasoning for wanting to be with Tali was nothing as basic as the physical need for intercourse but from the emotional connection that the two shared, one that they had sown and nurtured until it eventually could not be broken. It was a connection that pushed aside prejudices, that disregarded problematic outcomes, but that forged a stirring need that could not be satiated without the other within close proximity._

_But, inevitably, that connection would eventually be strengthened by the most natural and primal instincts that all animals are instinctively programmed to do. Thankfully, the similarities between the quarian and human bodies were not so disparate that old customs of lovemaking could be transferred over, or in Tali's case, learned altogether. Such activities were sporadic at first, but as Tali's immune system grew stronger, the both of them grew bolder._

_A few nights in, it quickly occurred to Shepard that he should focus more on Tali during these sessions whenever they sprung up. Sex for Tali was still quite the foreign experience that she still got chills of enthusiasm whenever they were about to travel down that avenue on those nights. One time she had gotten so excited from anticipation that she had passed out altogether as a result of her nerves causing her adrenaline to remain on overload, ending up with a much amused Shepard as he watched the incredible sight followed by a deeply embarrassed Tali apologizing after she had come to. How he felt during these nights did not really matter, he reasoned. Besides, it was only fair to make Tali be as comfortable as she could possibly be for she was the one taking all the risks, therefore she should be the one receiving the bulk of the pleasure._

_This compromise did not make sense to Tali initially, as quarians are typically very selfless, thinking of the needs of others before themselves, preferring that Shepard be the one most happy in this circumstance. When she finally decided to voice her opinion, for once Shepard was not willing to put up with any of that, deciding instead to embark on a session that catered to her every physical desire, deliberately shunting his needs aside for this first night that was all about the woman sharing his bed. She stopped complaining soon after._

_It really was not hard for Shepard to support his argument as the act of intercourse produced much more intense feelings on quarians than it did for humans. The quarian's sense of touch had been practically neutered from centuries of living with their enviro-suits, cutting them off from that basic sense that most other species could experience. A simple touch of a finger on Tali's bare shoulder, her skin rendered into a hypersensitive state after being cocooned for so long, produced what was akin to a small electric shock of bliss all over her body, the imprint of which continued to leave a shadow of tingles afterward, and a faint burning as the heat from a fellow body continued to linger upon her. In a way, Shepard was jealous that such a simple gesture could result in such a violent but pleasurable reaction. Comparatively, the human sense of touch was extremely duller._

_This most likely explained why that, whenever Shepard threw his whole body into the act of touching her all over, she would writhe and squirm in his grip as if she had climaxed all at once, especially when the both of them would be tightly wrapped in a fierce hug. Sensitivity was certainly a beautiful thing. _

_But, what caused Tali the most joy and delight in her life these days was a kiss. A simple act, but the intimacy of joining two sensitive areas of skin in such a manner always sent her into a frenzy without fail. One kiss could produce a physical pulse pounding through her body, as if she had just been struck by the shockwave of a powerful explosion. Several kisses in quick succession while she wrapped her body around Shepard's sometimes left her feeling woozy from her happiness. And when they opened their mouths slightly to allow their tongues some room to meet, all of her muscles would slacken, her limbs slumping to the side without fail, leaving Shepard to support her as she continued to make out with him._

_If the act of kissing produced a natural interest in Shepard, then the quarian orgasm was certainly a topic of fascination. It would be incorrect to crudely label quarians as "sex-starved" as they certainly had the patience for such an act in their culture. However, the aspect of Shepard being a human, meant that there was one less person whose health they had to worry about, therefore all his energy (and there was a lot) could all be projected onto her. It was quite obvious who had the advantage in terms of stamina in this case, leaving nary a night where Tali had not reached the crux of her satisfaction at least thrice._

_The majority of the time Shepard took control of the pace, always very gently in the beginning, paying close attention to her reactions, a change in her breathing, any sounds she might elicit, if she began to stimulate sensitive areas simultaneously, and other slight but glaring signs. There were a few times where she took command but the effort of which would always leave her out of breath very quickly, leaving it up to Shepard to finish the job, something which he was only happy to oblige. If the mood demanded it, he would increase his rhythm or keep it slow, trying to drag things out as long as possible, resulting in a string of curses from the hapless quarian as she teetered on the edge, desperate for her body to release and to end the maddening throb. A few times they would hold idle conversation but this rarely happened as Tali's pleasure was so overwhelming she lost the ability to form complete sentences, the only base reaction she had left during these moments was to follow Shepard's tempo, raising her hips back and forth in a way to make it immensely more pleasurable for her._

_Perhaps no quarian had ever experienced such a raw love on a physical level before. The way that Shepard understood her, how he knew what she wanted, how it felt to have him within her, made every nerve in Tali's body go haywire. Her world blurred by such euphoria, Tali was completely helpless as Shepard attended to her; going above and beyond the call of duty to make her the happiest she had ever been in her life. It had boiled down to the point that Shepard had figured out that could get her off immediately mid-coitus. All he had to do was whisper her name seductively into her ear and she would instantly feel herself shooting away, all while screaming his name back._

_This sort of lovemaking was not without consequence, though. Occasionally, Tali would wake up the next day sporting a slight cold or something as mild as a sniffle from her time outside her suit. But what was the most disruptive aspect was the fact that Tali's physiology could only withstand so many stimuli upon her person for so long. It was not an uncommon experience for Tali to completely pass out during one of her orgasms, bringing the night to an unexpected halt. It was through no fault of her own, her body was just unused to such a physical experience in this manner that it had no idea how to handle all of it, hence her sudden lack of consciousness in these instances. It slightly aggrieved her that whenever this happened she considered the fact that Shepard had been unable to get off with her, leaving a sour taste in her mouth as her mind gave her worry. On the other hand, Shepard viewed this outcome as a definitive success on his part. It gave him a burst of pride in the juvenile sense to see that he had made love so intensely to this woman that she passed out from it, knocked out from the sheer pleasure. He could not be disappointed as he had continued to make her happy in any case, which was all that really mattered in the first place._

_Tonight was not one of those nights as both were fully awake and sober, both panting from the culmination of their simultaneous climax. Their eyes locked as they lay upon the bed together, both understanding what was to come next. The kiss that they still continued was warm, sweet, and as intoxicating as a summer wine. Tali's breasts were pressed against Shepard's chest and he could feel the hard nubs of her nipples stiffen once again from arousal. Unable to help himself, he brought his hand back to one of her breasts, gingerly flicking a thumb across one of these nipples and hearing a sharp gasp from Tali as he played with them._

"_Ohhhh…" she moaned, closing her eyes slowly. "If…if you keep doing that, I'll have no choice but to make you go at me again."_

_He wiggled his eyebrows mischievously. "What, you don't think I'm game for one more round, my wonderful quarian?" He let his hand slide down her side as he spoke, fingers gently tickling her as they traveled._

_Tali giggled as she jerked in response. "You unbearable human," she sighed facetiously as she caught his hand, preventing it from going any further. "I have no doubt of your…um, ability to do so. But you're going to run me ragged one of these days. Next time though, it will be all about you."_

"_You say that every time," he pointed out. "And yet you always cease your complaining once I immediately ignore your requests in regards to what you truly desire."_

_She brushed her fingers over his chest in the barest imitation of a slap. "That's because you never listen, you bosh'tet. I actually do feel a little bit bad, you know. I do feel slightly guilty that you spend all this time on me and when I'm finally finished, I have no more to give to you."_

"_You don't have to feel guilty at all, Tali. The goal of sex is not necessarily to achieve an orgasm but to make our partner feel as special as they have ever been in their life. When I do this, I think of what you enjoy and how good it feels to you, so that's what I aim for."_

"_But even so, I'm still not even sure if I have made you feel special every single time-"_

"_Tali, relax. Like I just said, I'm not at all focused on achieving a climax here. What makes me feel the most special is seeing you like this, full of life, joyous, loved. Simply seeing you at the ultimate peak of your happiness is my ultimate objective, not some arbitrary body process."_

_Feeling a little better, Tali flushed, her cheeks darkening. She began to cradle his head with her hands, smoothing her fingers across his rough stubble. "Are…are you sure, John?"_

"_Absolutely," he nodded. "I take it that you do enjoy this, right?"_

"_Very," she purred._

"_Well, I enjoy this very much too. And if you share the same sentiment then I have succeeded in my objective. And if it comes to a time when you don't enjoy it and want to try something a little different, let me know. I'll also definitely notify you as well if I, for whatever stupid reason, find my enjoyment notably diminished."_

"_Promise?" she asked meekly, eyes shining up at him._

"_I promise," he whispered as he tenderly kissed her, feeling her body tense up as she kissed him back. They remained locked for a good while, eyes closed, as their lips parted then converged on each other milliseconds apart in random intervals._

_However, something was different than before. He could feel it radiating off her body. It was a slight twitch of her hands, a hitch in her breathing, and the tiniest instance of hesitation in her kiss. Tali was a very expressive woman, having to rely on her body language to properly emote to others. Outside of her suit, whatever subtle emotions that were locked away were now glaringly obvious to him. It was a slight change but it still spoke to him. She was conflicted with something, but what?_

_When they broke, Shepard stared into her luminous eyes as her lips parted to allow more air into her lungs, gaining her wind back from the kiss. He grasped onto one of her hands at it dropped from his face, squeezing it and nonverbally acknowledging to her that he wanted to know what was troubling her. Sometimes, not speaking was the best course of action._

_Giving a nervous smile, she lowered her eyes briefly before transfixing him once again with her pupils. "John," she began, "Is there anything you want out of marrying me? Besides living with me, that is." Her eyes scurried frantically across the room as she searched for the proper words. "Wait…um, I didn't mean it like that, I just…was there an ulterior motive apart from just me that convinced you to do this?"_

"_Tali, I'm surprised at you," Shepard said sternly, somewhat cautious. "I would have thought that my obvious bouts of emotion in your direction these past few months would have convinced you that I'm not having second thoughts about this at all. If you are, then I would be happy to discuss this with you…"_

"_Oh, Ancestors, never! Not about that!" Tali gasped, mentally smacking herself. "Keelah, I worded that all wrong. I just wanted to know, was there anything you wanted outside of marriage? Something more than just…us?"_

_He clutched her hand tightly. "What is it exactly, Tali? Tell me, please."_

"_Did…" she gave a dejected sigh. "Did you ever want to have a child?"_

_It all made sense now. The initial nervousness and the skittish nature of the topic should have been clear indicators towards this. Perhaps it was his naiveté working against him that disregarded this subject being brought up in the near or distant future. Maybe his assumption of their incompatible chiralities would have led to this being brought up at a later time, now not being that time. Of all things, this one certainly came flying out of right field._

_Despite the torrent that was his brain at the moment, Shepard's face was still relatively mild. "A child…" he murmured. "I can honestly say that I have considered the prospect a few times some years back. Maybe it was simply insensitive of me never to ask but, is a child what you really want, Tali?"_

_She bit her lip as she started to tremble. "I…I mean, it's not like we're going to have anything else to do around here, no war to separate us or anything like that. We…we just can't keep on lounging around in our home and having sex for the rest of our lives. I've always…I've always wondered what it would be like to care for someone, just someone that we could look after, call our own…who could…" Her eyes rapidly filled with tears as her voice became husky, "…who could call me 'mother.'"_

"_Tali, I'm so sorry, I never…" Shepard was fighting not to stumble over his own words. "I never knew that this meant so much to you. Had I known…had I any shred of common sense, I would have initiated this talk with you years ago…"_

"_I don't blame you," she smiled sadly, wiping away a tear. "I can understand your reasoning for this."_

"_It's just that I feel like such a total scum-…" He caught himself before proceeding further, now fully understanding, "You also didn't know how to approach this, didn't you? You assumed, just as I did, that because we can't naturally create a son or a daughter together automatically made the decision for us."_

"_I did," she admitted. "I guess…I just wanted to know your thoughts on the matter."_

_Shepard rolled onto his back, Tali clinging to him as she was now positioned parallel over him, her slim body lying atop his muscular one. He started to stroke her back as he pondered intently. "Judging by the fact that you haven't voiced any opposition to the idea and that I would have done the same by now if I felt otherwise, what reason do we have to not try, right?"_

"_John," Tali sighed as she shook her head, "The only way we can have a child together…your actual genes won't be utilized. Your reaction to this fact was what I was afraid of."_

"_No, no, I understand. My genes may not be utilized, but _your_ genes can."_

"_Beg pardon?"_

_He grinned, "You surely don't think that adoption is the only way to attain a child for you and I, right? Why have both of us lose when one of us is clearly capable of childbirth?"_

_Tali gaped, "John, I…I know what you're referring to but…but I thought you'd be mad. I mean, in-vitro fertilization requires another sperm donor, one who is dextro compatible. And that person can't be you."_

"_Tali," he hugged her, feeling her stern breathing focus, "That type of process involves completely anonymous donors. It may not be my genes in that child, but that's only half the part of upbringing. If you have a child via in-vitro fertilization, then that child will carry your genes. And since I am yours just as much as you are mine, I will love that child with all my heart, no matter whose half of the genes he or she may have." His features clouded as a new thought came to him. "But I will have to put my foot down on the topic of surrogacy because there is no way that I'm letting anyone else put their-"_

"_Wasn't even thinking of it, John!" Tali assured, waving her hands. "Quarians don't even do surrogacy as it goes against our upbringing."_

"_That's good to hear, then."_

"_But…you wouldn't be upset by that? By using in-vitro to…to…"_

_Truth be told, Shepard was getting more and more excited by the minute. "Upset? Tali, I'm rather ecstatic about this. I'm just ashamed at the fact that I was the biggest idiot in the galaxy for not talking about this with you sooner. You would really do this? You'd be willing to raise a child with me after we get married?"_

"_What do you think?" she lifted her head in mock consternation. "I brought the damn subject up."_

"_So…is that a yes?"_

"_You really _are_ the biggest idiot in the galaxy. Of course it's a yes!"_

_This was shaping up to be quite the wonderful night as both human and quarian clung to each other like glue, their arms completely wrapped around the other, their legs intertwined, their lips firmly mashed together as they rolled about on the bed, laughing and giggling. In the middle of one of their rolls, the both of them misjudged the proximity to the edge of the bed and they completely tumbled off, Shepard landing on his back on the carpet with Tali still clinging above him, a bedsheet billowing down to partially cover them both from their momentum._

_The genuine and uncontrollable laughter caused Shepard to expel what little air he had left in his body as tears streamed down from his eyes, both from joy and pain. Tali was completely in hysterics, also howling with laughter so hard that her belly ached. She laid her head across the human's chest, feeling it pulse every time he chuckled, placing her hands on his body as she jerked between peals._

_In about a minute, the raucous hilarity quieted, leaving the two lovers sprawled out on the floor, completely out of breath. Shepard struggled to raise his head but gave up midway through, gently lowering himself back down. "I guess going to sleep now is out of the question," he noted out loud. "I'm all wound up and too excited to even consider going to bed."_

"_Same here," Tali mumbled atop him. "But it's not like we have to wake up early or anything. Anyways, I might have an idea that could help us with our insomnia."_

"_And that is?"_

_Tali groaned as she pushed off with her limbs, her sleek and slender body rising upward as her toned and firm legs straightened. Reaching down, she helped Shepard up as she began to lead him to the door on the side of the wall. "Well, it's not so much a cure," she started with a sly smile on her face, "But rather an excuse to use that shower of ours."_

_He couldn't resist letting the titter out of his mouth, recognizing the new need for intimacy in a location that was still a source of wonderment for Tali. Water was a resource that was never used for the same purposes that humans intended as the quarians had no need to bathe, the enviro-suits had cleaning programs already installed into them that removed any impurities and imperfections on its host. But, as any person would state, the use as water as a cleansing solvent was a luxury that was unparalleled, a fact that Tali had picked up on very quickly. Sharing a shower with Tali was not a straightforward process as she would always be taken up by the sensation of hot water flowing across her skin, stimulating her nerves with something akin to pleasure, thereby triggering crucial hormones in her system. If Shepard happened to be within arm's reach, without fail, the situation would deteriorate rather rapidly for the both of them, resulting in what should have been a five minute shower turning into a forty-five minute shower._

_That prospect would be unappealing at the moment, if he so happened to be tired. Feeling unnaturally spry and energized, he too was feeling the slight urge to burn off a few more calories, so he shrugged and entered the bathroom with her, all the while struggling to keep up with the events of the night._

* * *

Present Day

Earth – Coordinates 32.7758° N, 96.7967° W

The Texan Megapolis had been one of the harshest regions on the planet to have been hit by the Reapers during the great war. Perhaps it was the first time in over three centuries that an invading force had come so close to trouncing the native Texans, but as always, they persisted and the damage was looking to be repaired within the next five days.

Growing development lines interconnecting the cities of Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas resulted in a band of urbanization that stretched for hundreds of miles across the former state sometime in the early 22nd century. As a part of the United North American States, borders between the original fifty states were more symbolic than ever, but Texas still retained its independent pride and resisted the conformity surrounding it. The majority of Texans were fiercely loyal to their state but this did not mean that they were unpatriotic, as a huge percentage of reservists took the side of the UNAS forces when secessionists blew up the Statue of Liberty in 2096 to oppose the creation of a united North America.

Just like the loyal band of patriots that preceded them in the 19th century, the remaining Texans had persevered and kept their homeland through trying times. At the moment, they were doing a better housekeeping job than the temporary synthetic tenants as they had done an admirable job of clearing the damage from the largest cities, only now starting to work on smaller ones such as Waco and Fort Worth.

In fact, as far as Shepard could see, standing in the middle of what was considered downtown Dallas, there was no evidence that anything had been decimated here at all. All of the skyscrapers were intact, the streets were swept and clean, the attitude of the citizens nonchalant and focused on more mundane topics. Everyone here had bounced back completely from nothing, quite the statement to be considered given the situation here less than two years ago.

Although, Shepard now regretted losing his beard, seeing as he was back on Earth, a planet where everyone could spot his face out of a crowd instantly, and he was supposed to be searching for some sign of Coalition activity discreetly, wherever it was. Fortunately, either most people thought he was a person pretending to dress up like Shepard or they just did not care or notice, he was glad for the anonymity at the moment. It would not do him any good to have his arrival loudly broadcast by an especially curious passerby. But if his group continued to loiter in Thanksgiving Square like they were waiting to catch a transport, then the chances of that scenario arising were going to increase exponentially.

It had not been a big challenge to make it into the city, surprisingly. The Normandy had docked at the Dallas/Fort Worth Skyport without much hassle (they had received a private landing area due to the ship's now-legendary status) and took an immediate shuttle to the city, which were the general coordinates Randolph had provided before his untimely departure out of a window. Deposited by city hall, Shepard, Tali, Liara, Garrus, and Kaidan were now left smack-dab in the middle of an enormous city with no other clues on how to proceed. It was like Illium all over again.

In one direction, past the convention center, it looked like the buildings were thinning somewhat the closer they were to the nearby Trinity River. Going by the old notion that shadowy organizations place more emphasis on buildings in plain sight, such as in the middle of a crowded city, they followed that idea and took Akard Street north, further into the glimmering heart of Dallas itself.

The general humidity and heat of the area was making most of the group start to perspire, sans Tali whose suit was climate controlled, and Garrus who had no sweat glands. If anything, this was the sort of an environment a salarian would feel accustomed to, given that all the proper qualities were in place. The sun beat down above from whenever there was a crack that the towering spires allowed, spilling the place with light. The cracked sidewalk radiated heat as the squad sagely crossed the street to walk in an area unspoiled with sunlight.

Downtown Dallas was not really a city catered to the average pedestrian. There were a few storefronts lining here or there but most of them were utilitarian, catering to only the businessmen that worked in one of the hundred skyscrapers in the area, and not for the average tourist. As it was, there was little traffic, not much in the way of crowds, and a very organized flow to the whole ordeal. Either that, or most people were not bothered to walk outside their buildings when lunchtime came calling.

Large cities like Dallas were also organized, in their own way, by several bits of software running throughout basic infrastructure processes. These separate pieces of software all ran different processes and were deliberately removed from one another to reduce the risk from rogue hackers. Traffic lights, water mains, and even skycar patterns were controlled by these compilations of code, a new preference to automation that bore the brunt of menial labor while the rest of the city continued to be rebuilt.

A new feature that came out of these automated cities was to include surveillance systems on each street corner. These individual cameras were available to the public on extranet sites as an attempt to discourage hackers by providing them windows in plain view for everyone to access. Besides, with the rise of network vigilantes as a direct result of these camera feeds, the amount of crimes solved from this social collaboration created an overwhelming need to keep the cameras, generating enough revenue to implement the same system in ten other cities with some extra cash left to dish out as bonuses.

As this was not a privatized aspect, it mattered little on who actually owned and used the software. An amateur programmer could copy the code and implement it onto another system where they could make slight modifications to it, adapt it for other purposes. One could even program the cameras to actively search for people of interest, compiling images from several different sources to run up a match on a database, flagging the end user if it snagged one of these matches.

The moment the group arrived in Dallas, those cameras at the corner of Young and Akard flagged five individuals all in the same location at the same time. Perhaps Shepard's presence had been broadcasted as loudly as he feared; he just did not know it yet.

So now, they all found themselves in the middle of Thanksgiving Square, a park built on top of an old underground tunnel system that had been decommissioned years ago. The historical aspect of the place seemed solid; after all, what kind of criminal organization could not resist the temptation of placing a hideout underground? It was also a perfect place to detonate a nuke, being that it was smack dab in the middle of the city itself for maximum casualties.

But when they investigated the area, it was painfully clear that no one had set foot inside these tunnels since the end of the war, as refugees had taken shelter within them for safety from the endless husks roaming the streets above. Since then, they were still in the process of being converted as a memorial, as evidenced by the constructing crews milling outside the entrance. Guess that threw the ultra-clichéd hideout idea out the window. Apart from that dumb plan, none of them had any access to good ones save checking the top floor of every skyscraper in the vicinity, still adhering to clichéd locations. At least no one was desperate enough to suggest that yet, even though that was what everyone was thinking of.

The group found a couple benches near the modernistic pool and sat down, dejected. Garrus reclined a bit and sighed out loud. "You know, Tali, if you had maybe waited to knock that guy out instead of booting him off of a building, we might have a better semblance of where to search."

Tali did not even bother to turn her head to address the turian. "Don't think of trying to lecture me on the values of hindsight, _Garrus_, because-"

"All right," Shepard interjected, exasperated. "Knock this off, you guys. Garrus, you know that our situation is not her fault. Tali, you don't need to defend yourself because you haven't done anything wrong. Admittedly, I'm frustrated as well but we need to keep our heads if we're going to make _any_ progress at all."

"And how exactly are we going to be making progress, Shepard?" Garrus glared at the human.

"Just relax. Liara's been filtering communication records from Randolph's omni-tool. We'll have a better idea once she's done decoding them, right Liara?"

"Hopefully," the asari shrugged. "I must admit that it's been going slower than I imagined but progress is still being made. Just a couple more thousand entries to go through before I can pinpoint an exact location."

Garrus sighed, "I wish you'd told me that we had some semblance of a plan earlier otherwise I wouldn't have opened my mouth."

"And save you from looking like an idiot?" Tali teased. "Good luck with that."

"You know, Tali, you drive me so crazy sometimes that one of these days I'm just going to-"

An enormous _boom_ resounded off the vertical walls of the buildings as a nearby tree shattered into millions of wooden splinters, dirt being kicked up from the blast. Everyone instinctively threw themselves down on the ground as their training kicked in, heart rate already rising. The sounds of panicked civilians echoed everywhere as they ran for cover, all away from the small park.

"What the _hell_ was that!?" Garrus shouted in panic.

A distant rumbling caused Shepard's hypothesis to be lost mid-transit from his brain to his mouth. The grinding sound of a large object on the pavement intruded on their ears from the north. The square was suddenly quiet as all live apart from the five of them had willingly evacuated the area. This welcoming committee was going to need a few tips on hospitality for the future.

Shepard turned his head in all directions, trying to spot the source of the explosion. A tree would not just blow up at random, it would have had to be from a heavy weapon, most likely. Spotting none from their cover and remembering the source of the noise, he gestured to the east and everyone began moving quietly away, down Pacific Avenue as they headed for the nearest freeway.

As soon as they stepped off the sidewalk, a whirring noise of a turret swiveling sounded right behind them. Alarmed, they broke for the nearest cover as whatever was down the road spat fire and the street blew up inches away, raining bits of concrete on their heads, waves of pressure slamming through their bodies as air and sound were made void.

Shepard got a brief glimpse of their pursuer as he backed into an alley, watching it roll towards them. It was six-wheeled and painted all black. A twin turret was positioned on its roof and a sleek canopy was in front of the two steering tires. Near the back, the rear was more streamlined and curved as a single antenna sat atop it. The shape was inherently familiar to Shepard, if he compared the similarities.

Garrus apparently had the same idea. "Kind of looks like a Mako, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Shepard could only nod. "But it's different than all the models I've seen."

"Could be an upgraded model?"

"I hope not," Shepard growled. "Otherwise we'd have no idea what we're dealing with. Weapons out and keep low."

Single file, they moved out of the alley, away from the tank, and headed south back towards the convention center. They could still hear the Mako in the background looking for them, tires squealing as its driver was alternating between flooring the gas and braking very suddenly. If the streets had been full of civilians, it would have looked rather odd to see five well-armed individuals moving down the sidewalk in combat positions. Thankfully, the civilians in Dallas had gotten the hint real fast as had the police, conveniently. Either the cops were terrible at their jobs or the Coalition knew how to move a few piles of credits around.

They had barely made two blocks before the Mako came barreling down the street to the east, guns already blazing. Shepard and Liara dove behind the nearest parked transport while Tali, Garrus, and Kaidan remained in the safety behind the building. Shepard groaned as his bad ankle twinged suddenly. If he kept on exhibiting this kind of care he could potentially break it once again, and that was something he really did not need right about now.

Enormous bullets sent plumes of dust billowing into the air as a rocket streaked out from the second barrel of the turret. A ball of hot air and flame materialized as a nearby skycar exploded, metal and glass expelling in all directions. Three seconds later another rocket fired, this one taking out a sizable chunk of the granite face of the building as it tried to wipe Tali and the others off the face of the earth. Whatever this new model was, it had significantly lower reload times for its main weapon. This complicated things somewhat.

Liara sprung out from behind the transport and threw out a blast of biotic energy, catching the Mako unawares. The force of the push had been precisely aimed, the left three wheels were automatically kicked off the ground as the tank struggled to balance on its remaining wheels. Abruptly, micro-boosters installed on the top of the craft fired on the left side only, savagely bringing the Mako back down, shock absorbers bouncing violently as it righted itself. The turret swiveled in Liara's direction, who barely had enough time to put up a barrier as the Mako tried to extinguish the annoying pest that had almost tipped it over.

Sustained fire from the three by the building drew the thing's attention off of the asari, weakening its shields. Liara staggered from exhaustion in the middle of the street as she released her barrier, leaving Shepard to run out and lead her over to cover, behind a nearby truck. Frowning at the lack of progress, he primed a smoke grenade from one of the slots on his armor and hurled it at the metal beast. Within seconds, the entire area around the Mako was shrouded in a fine smoke, completely engulfed in the undulating particulates.

As it was sufficiently distracted now, the rest of the group ran from the building to Shepard's position to regroup. The machine gun on the turret was now firing wildly, trying to see if it could get a lucky shot off. Several storefront windows shattered under the misdirected assault and by now several alarms from both shops and vehicles were going off, triggered by the audible cues and the waves of pressure shaking the gyroscopic sensors.

Gesturing south, Shepard led the group back down the street before the Mako could get a bead on them again. He wished that he had brought a missile launcher for this, that Mako was chewing them to pieces right now. The road abruptly ended in front of them but there was still a little courtyard they could pass through to make it to the next street beyond. They only had only begun to run past the rows of abandoned tables and chairs on the patios of restaurants before the squealing of tires sounded and the Mako bore down on them again, this time with the intention of running them over.

Fortunately for them, the Mako was still a hard vehicle to drive, no matter the iteration. Swerving wildly as it ran over a few tables, its wheels were thrown out of alignment and it abruptly swerved, careening through the window of a bar and getting the front axle stuck inside.

This was the chance Shepard had been hoping for. "Tali, overload its shields!" he roared, sprinting towards the stunned craft before it could bring its turret around again. "Liara, Kaidan, place singularities on the rear and top ends of the craft. It's not getting away now!"

When he was no more than ten meters away, he could see the Mako suddenly emit static electricity as its shields dropped, the harsh tang of ozone flooding his senses the closer he approached. With a _snap_, two pulsing orbs of dark energy appeared around the craft in the places he had specified, trapping it and preventing it from dislodging itself from the broken window.

Unimpeded, he took a flying leap and clambered aboard the tank, searching for an entrance hatch, ignoring the burning throb in his ankle. Finding one near him almost immediately, he made to pry it off in a feat of animalistic rage before it quickly opened by no will of his own, a black armored figure rising from the depths and leveling an automatic pistol at him at point-blank range. Shepard had no weapons in his hands at the moment and his shields were about as useful as paper at that range. Somehow, he found it in himself to smile at the man whose finger twitched towards the trigger, seemingly slow.

In the blink of an eye, the Coalition gunner's head collapsed in a mass of melted bone and plastic as his helmet fused to what was left of the man's skull, body slumping over the Mako. Giving a wave to Garrus in thanks as the turian kept on aiming with his sniper rifle, Shepard grasped the lifeless man by the collar and hauled him out of the hatch, depositing him on the brick ground several feet below. Below him into the tank, he could see the faint outline of the pilot as he triggered an escape hatch, spitting him out at ground level away from the tank. However, Tali had seen the secondary opening and she had already been in position with her shotgun at the ready. The inevitable burst riddled the pilot's body with holes and sprayed his blood all over the back wall, sending him flying backward and skidding along the ground, leaving a red trail. Numbly, she shouldered her weapon, heartbeat thundering in her body, her blood boiling at the never ending cycle of violence.

_Why can't it just end?_ Tali thought to herself. _Do our problems never cease?_

Shepard inspected the cabin of the Mako very quickly before clambering back down to meet the weary group. "Thing's still mostly intact," he summarized, appraising the sturdy design of the craft. "If we should go we should probably take this thing along with us. We could use the extra firepower."

Garrus cocked his head as he got his wind back. "Ordinarily I would object to availing myself to your driving once again, Shepard, but I don't see that we have much choice."

"But he's got a point," Tali noted, causing everyone to turn to look at her. "That Mako had to come from somewhere and every model is included with GPS tracking. All we have to do is access its trip computer and program it to return us to its place of origin. We can find the Coalition from there."

"Good idea," Kaidan said. "But we need to move fast as we've already lost a day from traveling. It would be mere hours at this point if that bomb were to go off."

"All the more reason to make haste," Shepard said grimly, now pointing at the Mako. "Everyone on board, and make it snappy."

Dutifully, everyone quickly complied and within half a minute, all were condensed in the cramped interior of the Mako. Somehow, the designers of this new craft had managed to make it less comfortable than the previous model. Surely that could be considered an engineering marvel.

Frustrated with the unfamiliar controls in the cockpit, Shepard let Tali do the tinkering next to him with the onboard software and she soon got it rolling, without any input from him. Extricating itself from the remnants of the bar, the Mako reversed automatically until it was back on the road, guided sensors indicating the position of the lanes and readjusted the front axle until the Mako was following the road in a straight line, straighter than Shepard had ever driven in his life, probably.

The entirety of the crew was silent as the Mako meandered on its way as if everything was completely normal. The only gesture that Shepard was aware of in that cramped cabin was the gentle touch from Tali's hand as she quietly intertwined her fingers with his, squeezing response in his typically assuring manner, calming her nerves and creating a small smile on her previously worried face. Not much longer now.

As the Mako rounded a corner, it seemed apparent as to where the group's current destination was going to be. A silvery building, average height, stood apart from the bulk of the city as it languished between the skycar freeway and the Trinity River. The glass building would seem rather ordinary to and ordinary person, save for the tall, free-standing structure that adorned it at the side: a metal and glass sphere that sat atop a large series of columns. A beacon and a landmark of the Dallas skyline, the Reunion Tower filled the view of the above window until it was replaced by a concrete ceiling and halogen lights, each one passing by as the Mako traveled further into the garage, the engine roaring in the confined space.

* * *

_**A/N: It seemed like every possible distraction conspired against me this past week, hence the breach from my usual schedule. **_

_**I'm not promising quicker updates in the future but the process of completing this should go a lot smoother for me, if I don't crash and burn.**_


	10. Chapter 9: (Not A) Happy Reunion

"_By day the skyscraper looms in the smoke and sun and has a soul…"_

-"Skyscraper" by Carl Sandburg

* * *

In hindsight, it was probably a good idea that Shepard had driven the Mako into the building as it turned out that they _did_ need the extra firepower. Passing through the automated checkpoints without much hassle, the tank had soldiered on until it came face to face with a series of doors leading into the building itself, guarded by soldiers wearing the familiar black armor.

Since the doors appeared locked and also that the guards manning the posts in the garage did not look to be so friendly, it did not require much consideration to arm the main cannon of the Mako and fire a round scant meters away from the surface, the concussion of the blast rocking the tank on all six wheels.

Those who were not immediately blown apart by the initial blast were either shredded by the mounted machine gun or run over by the enormous wheels as the Mako surged forward, knocking aside the shattered doors as if they were made from tin foil. The hallway that followed was large enough to accommodate the vehicle so, still being sloppily driven, Shepard maneuvered his way deeper into the heart of darkness.

A flashing light and alarm started up not before the first explosion had finished its resonation. There would obviously be more troops arming up and gearing for a fight now that their presence had been announced so dramatically. Currently, there was no one about in a lobby of sorts, the gigantic Mako squealing its tires as it skidded across the polished stone floor, creating ugly tire marks on the ground. A row of elevators sat to the side and based on their position relative to the building, one set led up into Reunion Tower itself. Shepard had no intel on which to base his theory on, but the less-than-subtle symbolism of the nuke being located within that highly positioned sphere seemed oddly appropriate. Never mind the fact that the previous bomb had been positioned in a meaningless place, this one had been announced in advance which meant that more planning had gone into the logistical qualities of its position. Might as well search the tower with that current line of thinking, anyway.

Before they could plan their immediate next move, however, armored men surged out of all hallways as they converged on the tank, weapons drawn. Some did not even wait to get into position, clenching their fingers on their triggers and letting the bright beams of light blast out and fizzle against the tank's shields. The turret swept across and returned fire in kind but this kind of assault was withering its defenses down alarmingly fast. It couldn't stay here if it was to remain in one piece.

A hatch on the safe side of the Mako was suddenly kicked open and, very quickly, Shepard and Tali tossed a pair of grenades into the fray, causing panic as a good chunk of the opposition was blasted aside, sending limbs and entrails into the air. Covered well by one of the enormous tires, Shepard swept his assault rifle on the left attacking flank, watching the exposed troopers fall from his precise assault, their chests cracked and smoking.

Tali was also having an easy time as well, cradling twin submachine guns in her hands as she sent out her attack drone, Chiktikka, in the midst of the right flank. Alarmed by the sudden appearance of the drone, one of the soldiers immediately began firing upon it and regretted his decision when the drone detonated in his face, his crumpled body tossed aside like a rag doll. Tali had no time to gloat as she determinedly fired again and again, hearing the rough chatter of the enormous Mako turret (now manned by Garrus) blast away at the enemies down the central hallway.

Even over the raging din, a tiny ding sounded as one of the elevators behind them reached their floor, despite none of them having called the lift to them. Since Shepard was busy covering the left flank, Tali took it upon herself to leave the right flank to Garrus, activating her omni-tool in preparation, engaging her specialized application that she had developed by herself, wanting to try it out.

The doors opened and a squad of five soldiers spilled out but they were completely unprepared for what was going to happen. As soon as they were out in the open, Tali sent a radio burst towards the troopers, connecting to the intricate implants just as she did with Randolph. However, Tali was not looking to control anyone right now as she sent an order for the implants to overload all at once, bracing herself for what was going to happen.

The effects were instantaneous, all five soldiers dropped as every single implant on their body burst, the force of the explosion sending blood and ragged bits of skin everywhere. Their faces disappeared in a crimson wash as the implanted webbing detonated, vomiting blood all over the tiles. The bodies barely twitching after that, Tali looked away as she tried not to retch, horrified by what she had done. The scale of the carnage had been so massive that she had not been prepared to see such horrors like this again, the violent nature unquantifiable.

Standing up, she walked over to the side of the Mako and tapped Shepard on the shoulder, gesturing to the open lift along the back wall. He nodded once and straightened, banging on the Mako for Kaidan and Liara to take their places defending the area. Trying not to slip in gore, they hurried along and pressed the solitary button for the top floor, the last view being of an enormous tank spewing death and fire as soldier after soldier fell from the endless barrage.

The doors shut, the chaos of the outside world became suddenly quieted, a void in an ocean of violence. Feeling the sudden pressure of gravity as the elevator ascended, the room became lit as the spires of Dallas were revealed to them from the rear window. Shepard and Tali said nothing as they beheld the infinite skyline, watching as they rose higher and higher until darkness fell upon them again, having reached the interior of the tower. Weapons raised, they apprehensively studied the doors of the lift until they opened, but found no one there to greet them with any incoming fire.

Shepard shot out the door and stopped just feet from the entrance, covering all sides just to make sure that they were not about to be ambushed. Still less than assured, he gestured to Tali to follow and they cautiously walked down the carpeted hallway, thankful that the material suppressed the sound of their feet against the floor.

There was a solitary door up ahead, windowless and black. There was no evidence to suggest that it might be locked so Shepard held out a hand and applied the gentlest of pressure, feeling the door yield an inch. He looked through the crack to determine if he would not be triggering any tripwires before he pushed it open all the way and stepped into the circular room.

The interior of Reunion Tower was completely windowless, a circular platform lining along the walls and a small staircase leading towards a depression in the center of the room. In this depression, a cylindrical object laid put, dull grey with a few wires sticking out of it. As soon as Tali spotted it, she stole down the stairs to closely examine the object in question, her breathing becoming sharper as she beheld the nuclear bomb in their midst.

Shepard stowed his rifle and knelt down by the panel. "This bomb is certainly bigger than that one on the Citadel, I'd assume," he noted grimly.

"Yeah," Tali breathed, astonished. She cautiously began typing on the bomb's interface but after a few seconds, she shook her head and backed up a step.

Shepard frowned at that. "What is it? Do we not have enough time?"

"No, it's…" Tali appeared confused. "This bomb isn't even _active_, John. It doesn't even have a wireless link connected to the console. Unless someone activates it in person and manually, this bomb is not going to blow up."

Now his brow scrunched in concern. "But that doesn't make any sense. What do you think that means?"

"It means, Commander," a voice announced suddenly, "That our goals have been achieved and that the nuclear weapon has been rendered obsolete thanks to your actions."

Three pillars of light shot up in equal intervals around the circular platform surrounding them. From it, three discernable figures, a human, a salarian, and a batarian all stood straight, looking down at the two in a gesture of victory.

The dark-skinned human above them shrugged. "Even in death, it appears Randolph had indirectly succeeded in his objectives after all. Bravo, Commander, for making it this far."

This was making less and less sense by the minute. "What the hell are you talking about?" Shepard asked incredulously. "Who are you?"

"We're talking about _you_, Commander, and what you've done," the salarian said grimly. "Your involvement has provided us the solution we have always sought. And your other question is wasted on someone like me, given that I know you've met with at least two of us personally before."

Shepard scowled, "I just didn't think that you would have the nerve to pull something like this off, _Dalatrass Linron_." He scanned around the room before settling upon the batarian. "And you, _Balak_, you just couldn't set your personal feelings aside for good, could you?"

Balak grinned cruelly, "Once again, Shepard, you fail to understand that this is not about the humans, but about so much more. About what is rightfully ours and what was taken from us!"

Ignoring the devout bluster, Shepard now looked at the human for a moment. "You, however, I don't recognize. Let me guess, considering the facts, former Cerberus?"

"Correct," the human dipped his head. "My official designation while working under the Illusive Man was _the Director_, a title I still use today, given the circumstances. But I must say, now that I have the chance to talk to you personally, you have been quite the exemplary individual in recent history. I was very impressed with the prowess you showed at the Battle of London and how you showed courage in the face of impending danger."

"Thanks for the compliment but I'm still not giving you an autograph," Shepard growled, cautiously turning in place as he viewed the hated beings above him. "Did you lure me here to Earth just to say hi or is there another motive towards your madness?"

"Madness?" Linron laughed. "Hardly. Our secession was in fact the most _logical_ thing to do, considering all the previous empirical evidence."

"That still didn't fully answer my question."

"You're quite right," the salarian acknowledged. "To fully understand, you have to take a step back and wonder why anyone would secede from the Council, after all that had been accomplished in the last few years. You proved it yourself, Commander. United as one front, we can overcome any obstacle, rise to meet any challenge, stand fast with a courage we never could hold on our own!"

"If you realized all that, then why go to the trouble of this Coalition? What was the catalyst for this?"

Linron now glared at him more icily than ever. "The problem with all that was the fact that it took sacrificing the lives of billions to come to the conclusion that the galaxy had to unite in order to face the Reapers. The Council's endless posturing and debating delayed action for so long that we almost lost the war, all from their cowardice. We were close, Commander, so close to being rendered extinct and yet the councilors, the ones who we trusted to guide us through this turmoil, continued to drag their heels until the last minute. Do you now see the flaw in that?"

Shepard blew air quietly out of his mouth. "I admit, they moved a lot slower than I would have liked but they all kept their word eventually."

"Eventually as opposed to immediately. Were it not for their supposed caution, you would not have turned to the krogan in desperation, or even the rachni. You were forced to take extreme measures to save us but we cannot fathom the consequences from your actions yet."

"Is that supposed to be some sort of an apology?"

"No," the dalatrass said flatly. "But it was the need for rational behavior and lack of politicking that warranted this alliance in the first place. The batarians also shared my point of view and the human here," she gestured to the Director, "Had enough resources to make our idea a reality."

"Did your reality have to involve the bombing of innocent civilians in the first place? What prompted _that_ course of action?"

The dalatrass shrugged, disinterested. "Sometimes, to extinguish a fire, you light another one next to it. A few dozen people were a small price to pay for our impatience, but did you really think that we would transition so quickly to wipe out a couple hundred thousand people in the blink of an eye? All to hasten our departure from the Citadel?"

Now Tali stepped up, completely incredulous. "Only a hundred thousand people? You showed the galaxy that those people on the Citadel were meaningless to someone like you so who would argue that you wouldn't stoop that low to attain your unknown motives?"

"Simple, my dear," the Director now said calmly. "The option to take things in a diplomatic manner was always open to us but expedition was our main goal at the time. Our hastily derived solution was regrettable and we are ashamed at the loss of life all the same. But after our little demonstration on the Citadel I then took it upon myself to involve you in the investigation utilizing the assets I had at my disposal, in order to further reduce the number of casualties in the future."

"Assets?" Shepard tilted his head. "You mean guys like Randolph?"

"Exactly. He knew little about my master plan because that was all I needed him to know at the time. And Randolph played his part to perfection. He attacked you in your own home, he motivated you to get involved from his intrusion into your lives, and now you're here in this very room."

"But…but what is the significance of this?"

"The alternative option lies before you," the director gestured to the bomb. "If we were unable to gain your involvement in tracking us down, we would have been forced to utilize the nuclear bomb and kill everyone in the blast radius. But now that you're among us, that option is now defunct, so you have saved thousands in your final act by simply walking into this room."

"But why?" Tali yelled. "Why do you need John at all?"

Linron shrugged, "Because, Miss Zorah, the involvement of Commander Shepard and the deaths of several thousand normal citizens would be considered with equal weight in our societies. The comparative loss of life would be staggeringly unbalanced on one end but each outcome would be treated all the same. You see, killing you or not killing you, Commander Shepard, does not force us to use the bomb to attain our secession, we simply deprive the galaxy of the one true hero that ever existed and everyone would know of our capabilities, allowing us to settle away from the Citadel, away from the damn Council and its band of corrupt morons. And even if you do survive, you would not let such a thing like this go unwarranted. You'll notify everyone. The Council, now fully invested upon your every word, would believe you and would realize the scale of our capabilities. Rather than pushing blindly into war again and favoring an option with minimal bloodshed, they'll find it in their best interests to simply let us go, preferring to utilize the pen in place of the sword."

Shepard and Tali stood silently in the center of the room, letting the three spires of light gently flood their vision. Shepard let his eyes slowly roam around, perceiving every one of the holographic figures silently judge him as they stared. A few heartbeats passed before Shepard sighed. "So, what happens now?"

"Now?" asked the Director. "Now is when you'll make your choice, Commander. You may walk out of this room, leave this planet, and scurry back to the Council where you'll relay everything we just told you. Or, you can stay here and exhibit your tendency to favor the solution with the most pyrotechnics and try to kill everyone in this building. Your survival in that option is less likely but still achievable but the outcome would remain the same on our end in either situation. We would prefer to not kill you, Commander. The galaxy still needs room for heroes like you, but this fight, for you, is now over."

"I thought my fight had ended long ago," Shepard mumbled, staring down at the ground before letting his gaze work back up to meet Tali's eyes, watching them glimmer from behind her purple visor. He peered intently, searching for a sign of some sort. He saw nothing but determination and anger in her eyes, a fierceness that dictated the need for action but for life as well.

And how could he even bring it in himself to refuse Tali what she desired?

Shepard gave a faint smile before turning back to the Director. "You raise some valid points there. But…I've never been too keen on others firmly dictating my choices for me."

The Director gave a smirk of victory. "Learn to be humble, Shepard. You will find that it can be quite a rewarding experience. There's no shame in admitting defeat."

"True, but I've never been content on letting the bad guy get away…so I think I'd prefer a solution of my own." Widening his grin, Shepard raised his arm and turned his hand so that the back was facing the human on the hologram. A glowing bead of light was pulsing where his omni-tool would be and it remained unwavering as Shepard held his fist up triumphantly.

Linron leaned forward, suspicious. "What the…what is _that?_"

"_That_," Shepard laughed, "Is the bulk of your conversation being recorded and transmitted to my ship where the source has ultimately been traced at this point."

"Wh- _WHAT?_"

"Huh, so I guess you guys forgot that I still had a fully functioning AI aboard the Normandy. EDI, I presume you got a lock?"

"Affirmative, Shepard," EDI's smooth voice filtered through. "Alliance ships in the area have been notified and will arrive in the designated system in minutes. All relays have been blockaded and are awaiting orders."

Beholding the salarian's pale face and the human's dark scowl, Shepard could not resist chuckling loudly. "Did you really just think I was born yesterday? I will be leaving this place with full knowledge that any danger will have passed and that there will be no more duties required of me from here on out. My time has yet to expire, while yours just ran out."

"Funny," Balak pondered from above. "Because from where _I_ stand, you are in the same boat as the rest of us." Before Shepard could inquire as to what that meant, the light from where the batarian stood abruptly faded but the image of the user did not. It took Shepard a split second to realize that the batarian still standing on the platform was _not_ a hologram but quite real and in that time, it was almost too late.

With a war cry, Balak vaulted over the nearby guardrail as he produced a traditional sword from behind him. Pushing Tali out of the way, Shepard held up his rifle to block the blow but the sharp metal from the blade cleaved it in two, sending the barrel clattering down on the ground. Shepard leapt backward to avoid the backslash and retreated up the small steps as the remaining two members watched in silence.

Balak twirled the blade in his hands and Shepard now noted that the air seemed to be shimmering near the weapon itself. It was not the air that was being affected, the sword was in fact a vibro-blade, a weapon that vibrated back and forth in milimetric increments. These subtle vibrations allow blades to cut through tougher surfaces and to part softer ones quicker and more violently, hence how easy the rifle had split when the blade had touched it.

Shepard drew his pistol at the same time Tali drew hers from across the room. Lining up the crazed batarian in his sights, he loosed a trio of bullets but watched them harmlessly splash across the alien's shields, Tali's attacks also doing the same thing. It would take more firepower to bring them down quicker but his rifle was the only other weapon that he had brought along for this mission and Tali was too far away to utilize her shotgun at the moment.

Teeth gnashing together, Balak snarled as he approached Shepard, who was still mentally trying to formulate an effective battle strategy. "Sheparrrrd," the batarian growled. "I've always wanted to tell you, I regret not killing you over Terra Nova."

"Really?" Shepard did his best to put on an expression of complete indignation. "That's funny, because the feeling is _mutual!_" He punctuated the last word with a charge at the batarian, engaging his omni-blade simultaneously. Balak quickly blocked the first blow and chopped down but Shepard leaped aside, scurrying back down the steps towards the center of the room.

As the batarian followed, he suddenly staggered backwards as Tali stood up from behind the dormant bomb and fired a burst from her shotgun. Balak yelled but did not fall, jumping aside to avoid the follow-up attack which took him into Shepard's radius. He was forced to go on the defense as Shepard savagely brought his arm down to tear into the alien's body but the vibro-blade was there to match the attack, deflecting it to the side.

Tali walked around, making sure to stay clear of Balak's reach but was unable to fire with Shepard being so close to the enemy. She kept her gun trained on the pair, waiting for the opportunity to catch the batarian unawares.

The sword sliced inches from Shepard's scalp and he flinched backward. Balak, still smiling damnably, took a big step inward and lunged toward the human's center of mass. At the last moment, Shepard side-stepped and chopped his own blade down, sending Balak's weapon pointing downward as it was diverted off course.

Growling, the batarian whirled in a slash but Shepard was there to meet him, sweat running down his eyes as fatigue started to set in. Limbs quaking from the powerful blow, he called on all his strength to push aside the alien's weapon and swing his arm in a riposte that sent the batarian leaping backwards.

As soon as Balak disengaged, a pinkish light flooded the corner of one eye and he involuntarily glanced at it. All of a sudden, he shook in place as Chiktikka sent a beam of pure energy in his direction, electricity sparking throughout his body as Tali stood nearby, her eyes lowered as she ordered the drone to fire again. However, Balak avoided the next volley and savagely brought his sword down upon the drone, scrambling its processes and temporarily deactivating it.

Balak roared and ducked a return swing from Shepard, answering in a deadly swipe that bit into the muscle of the human's arm, causing him to cry out from the pain. Hearing the quarian's yell of horror, he readied to twist the sword in place when Shepard's blade passed within inches of his arm, causing him to instinctively flinch back. However, his reaction made his arm pass too close to the swing and the omni-blade ended up taking one of the batarian's fingers off as he reeled.

Staring at his maimed hand, Balak dropped the vibro-blade as he clutched his limb, trying to squeeze the agony out. Shepard advance, holding his omni-blade up, a little weathered but somehow still full of energy. "Stop this right here, Balak," he ordered. "Stop it, or this won't end well for you."

Balak's four eyes squinted in apprehension. "Giving me one last chance to surrender, Shepard?"

Shepard slowly shook his head. "I won't execute an unarmed prisoner. Stand down, and I'll see that you'll have your day with a trial of your peers. It's more than you deserve but I haven't turned into a monster like you yet."

"So noble of you," Balak spat. "But we all know how _that's_ going to turn out. In the end, life in a cell is not preferable to death. And it's not like they'll ever let someone like _me_ post bail. So, if I'm going to go down, then I'm _taking you with me!_"

Balak's four fingered hand groped for an object at his side and held it aloft. Shepard could see the batarian's thumb hit the timer button on the grenade and immediately moved without thinking. He swung his blade through the air and it sliced through bone, sending blood misting through the air.

The hand holding the grenade hit the floor and Balak howled as he clutched the stump of his hand tighter, trying to stem the flow of blood while backing away from where the explosive landed. As it tumbled down the steps, Shepard realized that he had maneuvered too closely. As if he was moving underwater, he made to head towards Tali's scream of danger when he suddenly felt himself being picked up and flung across the room as a blast of heat hit him in the back, an enormous noise following that made his ears ring dully.

His feet hit the floor first and he catapulted forward on the carpet, hearing something snap as his full weight was projected downward all at once. There was a shooting pain near his ankle and Shepard soon felt his entire leg slowly start to go numb, as if it had been saddled with a powerful sedative. He gasped and began coughing as the room filled with smoke, eyes watering as he strained to penetrate the haze. He could not see Balak or Tali for that matter. Two other points of light still shone through the murkiness, evidently the dalatrass and Director were still observing. Well, the show was not over yet.

Shepard began to stand and collapsed, screaming as his ankle flared as if it had been dipped in lava. That certainly didn't feel right. In an instant, he understood. His ankle had broken again, but somehow this felt far worse than before. He looked down upon himself and only blinked as he saw a single shard of bone poke from between the plating on boots, stained with red.

Oddly, he did not feel terribly worried about any repercussions this might have, considering the wound as if someone considered a scratch on a wall. In fact, the more he looked at it, the calmer he felt for some insane reason. Shepard turned back around, beginning to crawl across the floor to look for something to support him when a hand grabbed him roughly by the collar and forced him upright on his knees.

_Easy, Tali,_ he wanted to say. _I may have broken something so just be careful._

A series of deep and heavy breaths made his words catch in his mouth as he realized who was holding onto him. Balak's right arm, ending at the wrist with a circle of charred and blackened flesh, held him upright while his left positioned a small dagger underneath his throat. Cuts on the batarian's remaining hand wept fluid, apparently he had not escaped injury from the grenade as well.

Feeling the cold steel on his neck, Shepard gritted his teeth in pain as he felt the blade begin to break the skin, feeling his blood already start to trickle down. Balak positioned him so that he had the best grip on the human, despite the lack of a hand.

"You…stupid…alien," the batarian spat. "You should have just taken the elevator back down."

There was a harsh _click_ and Shepard fearfully shut his eyes for a moment until a familiar voice rang out. "That was never going to happen. Now release John, you _bosh'tet_, and I won't have to put one between your four eyes."

Stepping through the smoke, Tali held her pistol aloft as she aimed precisely at the batarian across from her. Her knees were bent and her eyes murderous behind her mask. At once, Shepard felt a surge of joy, a realization that things were going to be all right. He tried to shift his feet somewhat but stopped as it felt like his foot was being torn off, the bone shard tearing into skin whenever he moved.

Ignoring his captive's discomfort, Balak grimaced. "I don't think so, quarian. In fact, you have no card to play. I hold Shepard, but what do _you_ have?"

Tali did not waver. "I'm not going to ask a second time."

"Neither will I. Martyrdom is not a concept I oppose but it seems like you prefer life far more than I do. Lay down your gun, quarian, and I will let Shepard go."

Her arms tensed as she looked at Shepard's pained expression, watching him teeter on the verge of consciousness. "How do I know if you're just going to let us go?"

Balak lowered his front two eyes. "You won't."

There was little she could do at this point and Tali saw the fear in Shepard's eyes. Worried for his safety and for their future, she knew what she had to do. She had nothing left to play. Giving a nod of compliance, she slowly knelt down, holding her pistol by the barrel. Reaching the ground, she gently set the gun down, muzzle pointed to the side. Shepard, vision going blurry, was too addled to voice a word of protest, but he saw Tali's arm reach slightly behind her leg as the hand holding the gun descended. Something pounded within and he strived to control his breathing.

"That's it, quarian," Balak nodded in satisfaction. "Now step back to the doorway and once you're there, I'll release your…_boyfriend_."

"Wrong," Tali announced, surprising herself with her boldness. "He's _not_ my boyfriend."

Balak's arm around Shepard's neck noticeably slackened at that, the knife torn away from his throat. He could feel the batarian's limbs loosen in confusion and subtly start to twitch. Balak tilted his head in an expression of bewilderment and Tali acted in that one instant.

Her right arm raised and surged outward, flinging an object across the room. Shepard saw Tali's boot knife part the smoke as it trailed across the room, watching the brief glimpse of his own reflection pass him by inches away from his face. Sailing past him, he felt a few blotches of warm liquid hit the back of his head as Balak's arms around him fell away, allowing him to lay down forward in a more comfortable position. Rolling around, Shepard smiled as he saw the knife sticking up perfectly in the middle of the batarian's face, bright blood oozing from the wound.

And across the room, Tali stood triumphant.

"…he's my _husband_," she declared to the now dead batarian.

Shepard heard a quick patter of footsteps and then tender arms around him as Tali helped sit him up. He wanted to speak but his jaw felt glued together, the words coming out all distorted. A fog fell upon his vision and it was starting to get dimmer in the room. He could still see Tali open her omni-tool and prepare a dose of medi-gel, concentrating on his maimed ankle as he slowly faded from view.

The twin beams of light above them winked out of existence and Shepard smiled, feeling Tali's hand press into his own, squeezing it to let her know that everything was going to be all right. From her, he heard nothing but a gentle touch on the head to examine him for any other wounds that she might not see. There was no need to worry too much as she continued to analyze him, preparing for the worst but hoping for the best.

_You chose well, John. You certainly found the right one._

"Make sure the docs do it quickly," he slurred vaguely, feeling peaceful all of a sudden. "I can't be late for my own wedding…"

* * *

The Cradle

The image of Reunion Tower faded from view and the Director stood silently for a few seconds, watching the dalatrass' pained expression as he took in her displeasure. Looking down at his own console, he noted that the station's sensors were picking up dozens of ships registered to the Alliance and the Hierarchy converging around them. Clearly Shepard had not been bluffing when he had said that the transmission had been traced.

He tapped his fingers on his desk impatiently. "Well, my dear," causing Linron to bristle in discomfort, "It certainly seems that we bit off more than we could chew in this case."

"You humans and your damnable metaphors," the salarian raged. "I warned you about underestimating Shepard before and now look! Everything that we have built is about to become undone!"

"That sounds a little extreme," the Director replied mildly. "But this whole fiasco will only add to the legend that is Commander Shepard, ironically enough. This all makes me wonder if we could have done this differently and have succeeded."

"How can you be so _calm_?" Linron cried shrilly. "They're coming for us right now! I'm…I'm the dalatrass of the Salarian Union! What do you think they'll do to someone like me? I'll…I'll be put to death for this."

"Quite possibly. You did, after all, plot to overthrow your own government and as a figure of high authority, the courts will want to make an example out of you. I'd expect that you and your whole family line will be shamed for centuries in the historical records. Knowing salarian traditions, breeding contracts with your name will be rendered worthless. Your line will die out, all because of what you've done."

Having gone the color of curdled milk, the dalatrass struggled to speak as her throat did not want to cooperate with her. "A-A-And what about you? You're still part of this Coalition too! You will also be put to death for this as well, you know!"

"Highly unlikely," the human grinned. "I'd expect that they'd have to _find_ me before any of that could happen."

"What are you talking about? You're going down with me together! I don't know how you can think of escaping when everything is falling down around us!"

"It wasn't _escape_ that I was thinking of," the Director said sadly as his outline started to shimmer, pulsing a cool blue. "Considering that I was never here in the first place."

Blue lines wrapped around the edges of the hologram, like pulsing veins in a body. Widening, they enhanced the human's final smile as the light blurred together and converged into one sphere before condensing into a line and letting the dark swallow it up. Gaping, the dalatrass looked at the empty space the hologram of the Director had just occupied second earlier, dumbstruck at the betrayal, at the audacity of the human.

"You…you…" she sputtered to thin air, no one answering her.

Linron could now hear muffled sounds of a scuffle occurring from outside the conference room, muted bursts of what only could be gunfire, quieted shouts of her troops falling as the impeccable aim of the human or turian troopers bested them in combat. The blasts were getting closer and closer, the screams louder and louder, and the dalatrass began shaking helplessly.

Fingers fumbling at her desk, she opened the top drawer and brought out a steel-grey object. The pistol was in no means a powerful weapon, barely capable of puncturing the weakest of shields. However, its usefulness had just peaked as the salarian considered the weapon in her hands, eyeing the door and waiting for it to open.

With a final wrenching cry, the salarian was now presented with a few seconds of silence until a new voice, struggling to get through the door, began barking out orders to his subordinates, clearly right outside and meaning to open the barrier separating them. This was it, they were here to arrest her. There was no way out for her this time.

But there were alternatives to a lifetime of shame, even if it meant cutting those last few moments short. Linron quickly pushed the muzzle against the side of her head, breathing steady, eyes closed. She only hoped that she would look presentable for the ceremony afterward. As soon as she heard the locks disengage and the door slide open, she pulled the trigger, feeling the slight catch of metal as the parts slid into place.

The last sound she heard was a brief _pop_ before the room was rendered silent for good.


	11. Epilogue: In Sickness and in Health

_Ends are not all bad, I just feel that it means something new is about to begin._

**-Tali'Shepard vas Rannoch**

* * *

Two days later - Wellington, New Zealand

The hot sun streamed through the windows that kept the mild maritime winds at bay, making the small room all the more stuffy. It was not helping Shepard in any case as he had to constantly fight to keep himself from perspiring in the humidity, fiddling with the buttons on his jacket as he shifted on his feet nervously. His brow beaded as he realized the importance of this day, probably the most important decision he had ever made in his entire life. With such implications, he almost wished that he would be back on the battlefield with a gun in hand, ready to bust the nearest pirate base or trample a Reaper outpost.

Almost.

Seeing him fumble, James Vega, having taken time off from deployment to be here, walked over and adjusted Shepard's bowtie with a suspiciously skillful grace, interrupting the man from making a hash out of his outfit. "There you go, commander," he muttered as he straightened Shepard's collar. "Should be good enough now."

Shepard grinned as the man fiddled at his tie. "You're not supposed to call me 'commander' any more, James, remember? I'm retired, for good this time."

"You can say that all you want," Vega shrugged. "You're never going to stop being my commander, Loco."

Not intent on continuing this battle any further, as James could drag a simple argument on for hours, Shepard sighed as he fought to remain calm, the tightness of his suit not doing anything to assuage that. It was a simple outfit, as befitting of a man who lived a relatively spartan life. The pants and the jacket were black, matching the tie, and the shirt underneath was a plain white. But pinned to the jacket, in a rare glimpse of individuality, was a boutonniere: a red rose. Unremarkably conservative attire, all things considered, but Shepard had never been an innovator in the realm of fashion. But by the way that his bowtie felt like a noose around his neck, he was suddenly reminded why he never took the time to dress nicely more than once a year.

Drawn to the window for what had to be the fifth time in fifteen minutes, Shepard walked over, sans limp this time, and blinked out the sunlight intruding upon his vision. He let his weight equally stand on both feet, feeling his right foot react normally to the pressure. The compound fracture he had sustained back in Dallas had been so debilitating that resetting the bone would be very tricky to accomplish, even for the accomplished doctors at the hospital who had dealt with far worse injuries in the past. Not wanting to delay his wedding by a single second, Shepard had requested without hesitation that they had permission to use cybernetics to help him regain full control of his mobility at any expense. If he was going to live the rest of his life without pain at the cost of one measly foot, then this sacrifice would be worth it, just this once. Some things in life were just too important.

During surgery, all of the bones in his foot had been replaced by a titanium alloy surrounded by flash-cloned tissue that effectively emulated the look of a foot after they removed the lame original. Of course, Shepard could no longer feel anything below the ankle but that meant that he would not have to limp anymore, or worry about that area breaking ever again. Technically, it was far superior to his old foot and he would have the option to go in again to implant neural transmitters so that he could feel simulated pain, but that would have to be done another day, not right now. He just needed the initial step to get him moving properly so that he could see this day through.

When he had awoken from the sedatives after only six hours out, him witnessing Tali asleep in the chair next to his bed as their hands remained linked, had brought forth the memory of him lying in a similar bed a year and a half ago in London, with wounds way worse and in a situation more dire. She had not left his side then and she certainly did not intend to leave it now. Truly, with one so devoted to his personal health, Shepard did not need any more reminding on how the woman he picked to marry was most certainly the best choice for him. Unnecessary, but welcome all the same. Shepard really could not get enough of the affection.

A few nurses and a passing Council liaison gave him updates surrounding the aftermath of the past couple days, talk of rounding up the last of the insurrectionists through several coordinated and mentions of several discussions being planned between several races to account for the betrayal of the dalatrass. The Salarian Union had quickly appointed an overseer to serve in the dalatrass' place until a proper election could be organized, and would lead them through the inevitable reparations that would ensue upon the society in the near future. The more information Shepard received as he lay helplessly in his bed, the more he did not want to hear it. The words just floated in and out, never registering, his thoughts only on what his duties would entail as a man firmly freed from this cycle of violence, and as a husband first and foremost. What was he to care about the Salarian Union or the Council? His job was over and he had moved on, plain and simple.

War was no longer his concern as he was no longer needed for any more fights. He was being praised as a hero yet again for his involvement against the Coalition but Shepard was keen to shut all of the prattle out. He did not want to listen about his accomplishments, about the Coalition, about anything related to fighting again. In that bed, he had firmly decided, that he was out for good.

Now staring outside of the church window, Shepard left his conflicted thoughts behind as he observed Wellington Harbor from the heights of the Karori suburb, a sleepy little hamlet that would do just nicely without all the pomp and circumstance surrounding his wedding. So far, no press had arrived to document the occasion and he was determined to keep it that way, most likely thanks to this relatively secluded location. Of course, when the local newspaper would inevitably and quietly announce their union, several of the major galactic publications would undoubtedly go insane with having missed one of the biggest media events of the century once that secret was out. They would just have to find some other pulp to properly filter in place of spying on a wedding, unfortunately for them. Anything for a little privacy these days.

Through the glass, he could see the tall spires of downtown Wellington rise over the glimmering water, looking beyond to view the developed grey areas of Lower Hutt miles away. If he peered further, past the needles of buildings, he could barely glimpse the snow-capped peak of Mount Ruapehu positioned over the breathtaking mountain ranges. An unspoiled area like this certainly was more memorable than any unified civil affairs office on the Citadel. Sometimes, the old ways worked the best.

The door slammed open, causing Shepard and Vega to tear away from the window in alarm. They relaxed as soon as they saw Kaidan and Garrus, both in their suits and the latter swaying somewhat heavily as Shepard realized that the turian was clutching a flask in one hand.

"It's not even noon, Garrus," Shepard felt exasperated at the man's antics, "And you're drinking?"

Garrus shook his head in defense. "I had no idea what else to do. I've never been to a wedding before, Shepard. Luckily, the bar down the hill catered to my clientele and I thought I might stock up before we get underway."

"Uh-huh," Shepard mumbled as he quickly walked over and plucked the flask out of the turian's hands, stowing it in his own breast pocket. "I'm not having my best man potentially embarrass himself and everyone else because he couldn't hold his liquor. What, are _you_ nervous Garrus? At _my_ wedding?"

Somewhat devastated at the loss of his drink, Garrus found a chair to sit down on and sighed dramatically. "It's just so much to take in. We've fought for peace for years, achieved that, been by each other's sides for a long time, and now two of my best friends are getting married to each other. Two people whom I feel that I've known my whole life are actually getting _married_." He gave a throaty laugh. "That escalated further than I ever thought it would, what with you two all head-over-heels for each other."

"That's generally what happens when people fall in love, Garrus. They kind of do crazy stuff like this."

"Crazy…" Garrus said peacefully, as if he was playing up his drunkenness for as much as he could spare. "Guess you actually took advantage of everyone not hitting on me after that rocket hit my face."

"It's always about you, huh?"

"I'm slightly drunk, cut me some slack. Give me a few minutes to sober up so I can be my old standoffish self again." Garrus leaned backward, resting himself until the next question popped into his head and required him to voice it out loud. "Pretty nice looking city, though. But the locals here seem to be rather rowdier than other humans I've met. Do they all have such thick accents and do nothing but watch sports all day?"

Shepard laughed. "Ah, met the New Zealanders, have you? I trust none of them recognized you, I hope?"

"One did. He asked me what I was doing in their town and asked if I knew where you and Tali were, considering our, heh, _relationship_. Guy sounded like he genuinely wanted an autograph, come to think of it."

"And did you say that I was less than a mile away from him?"

"Nope," Garrus tilted his chin up proudly. "I was sober enough at the time to tell him otherwise but the guy seemed to take it well. He even said to me to tell you the next time I saw you, _'Give those right cunts a holler from Dale!' _His exact words. Not sure if that was meant to be taken as a good thing, now that I think about it."

Shepard burst out into peals of laughter, clutching a corner of a nearby table to keep himself from falling over. James shook his head as he also barked out loudly. Only Kaidan seemed the least amused, but still smiled all the same.

Garrus was perplexed. "Was…that supposed to be funny?"

"Those fucking Zealanders, man," James chuckled to the commander. "Not as abrasive as those Australians but both seem to love that word all the same."

"What word?" Garrus looked lost. "Did I say it wrong? Was it when I said cu-"

"Yes, Garrus!" Shepard interrupted him, preventing the turian from making an ass out of himself in the future. "Thanks…thanks for the message but it would be better if you don't say that word out loud in public."

"What…_cunt?_"

"Honestly, it's like talking to a small child," Shepard mumbled under his breath. "_Yes_, that word, Garrus. For god's sake man, keep it down!"

"Is it a rude word or something?"

"_Very_ rude. Just…don't utter it anywhere else as people may be easily offended by it."

"Oh, okay," the turian nodded, still looking a little apprehensive. "What does it mean, exactly?"

"Look it up on your own damn time," Shepard asserted, now completely finished. "The last thing I need is my drunken best man spewing that word from his mouth during the reception or even the ceremony itself."

"I told you, I'm not that drunk!" Garrus attempted to stand but in his rush he overestimated and was forced to collapse back down onto the chair. "Just a little tipsy...whoops…"

"And I thought _I_ was going to be the one passed out today," Shepard sighed. "If I can't have you standing straight today, I'm going to have to give your position to someone else. It's not even fifteen minutes of standing up, Garrus and you look like you can barely achieve three."

"I can do it!" the turian moaned. "Just tell me what exactly it is that I have to do today."

"All you have to do is stand up and look important," Shepard assured. "You don't need to speak right now, you can do that at the reception. It's only a few minutes of exchanging vows right now and then you're done for a few hours, that's it."

The turian looked marginally happier at that. "Great, so since you know what human weddings are like, what exactly should I expect from this?"

Shepard briefed glanced at the ceiling at that. "I would tell you, Garrus, but this is not going to be a traditional human wedding. We have a priest of all faiths representing the human portion and a quarian admiral has come from Rannoch to comprise Tali's portion so that we'll be linked officially across two separate cultures. It'll be slightly abridged, but legal enough in our eyes."

"And then what happens next?"

"Then, we go back to the hotel and go downstairs for the reception at around five, local time."

"Can I drink then?" Garrus asked eagerly.

"What _is_ it with you and alcohol today?"

"It's just…" the turian screwed up his face as he struggled to find the appropriate words. "It's just that…I've never really been in such a happy and ecstatic atmosphere before. Sure, I've been to a few victory celebrations after the war ended but seeing everyone like this, in a place that is more personal and affectionate than I have been exposed to…it's really hard to wrap my mind against. I really don't know how else to calm myself. I've felt less nervous facing down the Reaper on Tuchanka, believe it or not."

"You and me both, buddy," Shepard assured, kneeling down to put a hand on the turian's shoulder. "But try and keep it together right now, okay? Of course, if you're feeling emotional at any time, it's perfectly fine for you to cry at a wedding. No need to have drinking cover that up."

Now Garrus looked rather cross. "Shepard, I'm a turian from a race of rigid and stoic militants. I _don't_ cry. Never have."

"There's a first time for everything. I won't mock you too badly if you do." With a mischievous wink, Shepard reached towards the nearby table and produced a handkerchief, stuffing it into one of the pockets in Garrus' suit. "Just in case, pal."

"You jerk."

"You may thank me later. But try and keep a hold on the liquor until you have to give your speech, okay? You still have to wish me and Tali a prosperous future together, you know."

"You humans and your damnable traditions," Garrus growled. "I'll have you know that turian weddings go by much more quickly and with less…dramatic flair than all these hoops you're having me jump through. No drinking in the beginning…me having to give a speech… What's next, having me _dance _in front of everyone?"

Shepard hung his head as he hid a smile. "Dancing is also a traditional pastime at weddings…although _I'm_ more worried than you in that case. I could never dance well and that's something that's expected of the bride and groom."

"Heh. Better you than me."

"Oh, be quiet. You agreed to this and now you're going to participate in a human-ish wedding. It'll be fun!"

"The last time you said something was going to be fun, we ended up having to fight a crazed clone and this massive bitch of- _all right_! I'll stop moping and do this damn thing properly. No drinking, no fuss."

"You're going to have a good time," Shepard clapped him on the arm. "I still can't believe that _I_ have to assure someone on today of all days…"

There was a soft knock on the door, causing Shepard and Garrus to peer towards the entrance, seeing James with an anxious expression on his face. "Yo, Loco? You've got a visitor."

"Can it wait? The ceremony starts in less than ten minutes."

The marine gritted his teeth as he looked past the door out of Shepard's sight before turning back. "I…uh…I think you'd better take this one."

Pushing past the large man, a uniformed woman carrying the rank of admiral with a shock of dark red hair stepped into the room. Her face was slightly weathered but her expression took a few years off her dramatically, a compliment to her age. Upon seeing her, John stood up instinctively, an astonished look on his face. "Hello, _mother_."

Hannah Shepard smiled warmly and held out her arms to embrace her son. Shepard topped her by a full head and she was practically smothered by his hug. Garrus, in the background, did not even notice that his jaw had dropped, having never seen or heard about Shepard's mother before, the revelation hitting him like a sack of bricks. Patting his back firmly, the two broke apart as the elder Shepard started to straighten the suit of her son, a mother's old habit.

"Look at you, Johnnie," Hannah clucked, now brushing at his hair. "It's like I've turned my back on you for only a minute and now you've all grown up."

Garrus had to clamp both hands over his mouth to muffle the laugh of disbelief that threatened to burst from his mouth, most likely at the sight of Shepard being worried over by his mother or the fact that she called him "_Johnnie_." Either way, she did not notice the turian struggle to keep his composure behind her back but James did, rolling his eyes as he hauled the turian to his feet, pushing him out the door to give the two Shepards some privacy.

As they left, Shepard could faintly hear James whispering to Garrus in a fierce tone_, "Man, why the hell would you laugh in front of his mother? What the hell is wrong with you…?" _He smiled and looked down as his mother gave him a once-over, gesturing for him to turn around, which he begrudgingly complied. Honestly, it was like she thought he was ten again, telling him to look presentable at all times while on board a military ship.

Hannah stood back, seemingly done with her appraisal, squinting to make sure she hadn't missed a wrinkle in his suit. Gingerly, she began reaching out to adjust one more thing before Shepard caught her hands with a laugh. "Mother, that's enough. I'm thirty-two years old, I think I can determine for myself if my boutonniere is on straight."

"Just as stubborn as your father," Hannah sighed teasingly, hands on her hips. "He too was always hopeless at dressing. If I had had a daughter I'm sure I still wouldn't have to give her hints on how to tie a tie, though."

Shepard laughed at that. "I'm afraid you're just going to have to stick with me being hopeless at some things. I fear that I'm not as perfect as the tabloids make me out to be, what with my failings at dressing and all."

"Quit being smart with me, young man," Hannah was rather enjoying becoming a parent once more, the delight of remembrance also transpiring onto her son's face. "I…I…oh, the hell with it." She gave a big dramatic sigh as she let her eyes reach the ceiling. "I guess I'll just have to blame your father's genes for giving you a faulty sense of fashion in the meantime, god rest his soul. But I should be allowed to fix you up a bit on this day, for heaven's sake. I'll not have my boy look like a ruffian on the day of his own wedding!"

"I think that's a bit of an over exaggeration," Shepard remarked dryly.

"An over exaggeration? As your mother, I should be able to provide the full measure of my parenting skills on you whenever appropriate, starting with your attire. Lord knows I haven't done enough as it is."

"My attire is fine, you can stop worrying. And you also don't need to worry about parenting me enough, even though I'll probably appreciate it in the future. For what it's worth, you did good, mom."

Hannah looked up from tucking in Shepard's shirt, tears in her eyes from his words. She took a few seconds to smile before wiping away her dripping eyes. "I…I only hope it was enough. I always wanted you to think that I was a good mother…that I tried to make time for you despite the fleet asking so much of me…"

"You did the best job anyone could do," Shepard assured her, carefully wrapping his arms around her. "I'm not accusing you of being anything less. You were…_are_…a good mother."

"Thank you, Johnnie," came Hannah's muffled reply against his chest before she separated, eyes a little redder than before but completely dry. "Oh, now look," she slumped as her emotional side was discarded. She was able to change attitudes on a dime, as befitting an admiral, having complete control of their outbursts during times that called for them. "Your jacket is all wrinkled again," she frowned and began to smooth it once more.

"_Mother_…" Shepard groaned, now anxious to stop this. "Just leave it."

"Oh and by the way," she ignored him, changing the subject as quickly as one changes the channel on a vidscreen. "I just finished speaking to your future wife before seeing you here, as a matter of fact."

Shepard froze completely in fear, his face becoming slightly pale. He let his eyes slide downward in anticipation for Hannah's reaction. "And?" he said cautiously, somewhat wary at the way the subject had been brought up.

Hannah tugged on his jacket as she spoke. "I'm just more surprised you haven't properly introduced Tali to me _before_, Johnnie. The girl's a _treasure_." Sensing his body slump in relief, she looked upward to view his relaxed face pull a grin quickly. "What," she countered, "Did you think that I would not approve of her?"

Shepard absentmindedly began to glance out the window as his mother leveled these odd questions at him. "Well, no…but…"

"Ah, I see now," Hannah smoothed over the arms of her son's jacket as she continued on, somewhat flippantly. "You were most likely worried that I wouldn't see her the way you did, all thunderstruck with love. You probably thought that I'd be one of those ratty in-laws to her, right? That I wouldn't consider her fit to wed my son? Or perhaps the more obvious fact that she's a quarian as opposed to a human?"

"Well…possibly…"

"John Shepard, you foolish man. _Anyone_ with a brain could see that Tali's hopelessly in love with you and you love her right back. Race has no bearing on such matters so who am I to judge? I've _seen_ the vids of you together during and after the war. You looked inseparable in every picture circulated and now you're taking it one step further, proving to yourself that the two of you are meant to be together." Hannah now gave Shepard an assuring pat on the chest. "And if my son was willing to fight through hell to get to the woman he loved and if she was able to see all that he sacrificed for her, then that person _definitely_ deserves someone like you in their life. I'm so happy for you, John."

Shepard felt cooler as the heat fled him, finding himself slightly shaking as the fear left as well. He grinned broadly as he saw his mother's set face, an expression that told no fib, which demonstrated a directness and sincerity to every word out of her mouth.

He clenched Hannah's hand tightly as he could only give a slight laugh and a smile. She knew that he didn't need to say anything; it had already been said between them. If he was not going to speak, then she might as well continue. "Speaking of Tali, I did mention that we had a little talk together. Of course, you now know that I must have gotten a good impression of her."

"So you must have," Shepard breathed. "What did you two talk about?"

"Not much," she replied with a twinkle in her eye. That was very much like Hannah, always reluctant to give up secrets so easily, a fact that Shepard knew but did not press. "We mostly talked about the circumstances of you two meeting and how you came to be together. The way she told it, about your first meeting, you'd think that you were a knight in shining armor gallantly saving the damsel in distress."

He could only shuffle his feet in embarrassment, giving Hannah a burst of pride at being able to privately torture her son like this. It was an unspoken rule of parenting that every once in a while they got to abuse their power and embarrass him just for kicks, albeit in a nice manner. Every reaction was as priceless as the last for them.

"Well," Shepard said after some time, "I can't really deny that the circumstances of our relationship were anything but normal. But we can discuss that later. Did Tali seem all right when you spoke to her today?"

"Yes, of course!" Hannah waved a hand in dismissal. "You needn't worry, the woman is completely ecstatic. If I were to compare it to my own wedding day, I would say that she's probably wondering if this is all a dream for her, and that if it is, she doesn't want to wake up. She's definitely soaring on cloud nine right now, no doubt about it." She tilted inward slyly. "And…she does look very beautiful."

Judging by the confused look on Shepard's face, Hannah had to laugh at the frozen expression. "I mean is, that she showed me a picture of you two," she explained. "And it was one of her without her mask on. Being your mother and all, I guess she felt compelled to show me what sort of person that my son wanted to spend the rest of his life with and she let me see her voluntarily."

Shepard's eyebrows raised in surprise at the act. "Tali doesn't like to show other people her face. Her letting you see that picture is a sign that she completely trusts you, and for a quarian, that is a very rare act to give to an outsider like me or you."

"Regardless, I was very touched for she is a lovely woman. But's that's not why you're marrying her, is it?"

"No. It isn't. I wouldn't be that shallow."

There was a harsh rap on the door and Garrus poked his head in, any traces of impairment successfully shaken off. "Um, guys? It's time."

"Oh, dear lord," Hannah gasped. "I'll let you go at your own time, I should get back into the room. Love you, John. And do take care of Tali, you mean the world to her."

"I will," Shepard said as he watched her glide back out into the hallway. Garrus now opened the door wider and looked at his friend, watching him stand there in his crisp suit, glued in the middle of a beam of sunlight.

Garrus let the door stand open as he now closed the distance between him and Shepard. He put a talon-like hand on the human's shoulder, watching him look up from the interaction. "You doing all right there, Shepard?"

"Yeah," he breathed out very quickly. "Calm. Cool. Collected."

"Nervous?"

"A bit," he admitted.

"Can't wait for it to end?"

"No," Shepard shook his head. "I can't wait for it to _start_."

"Then we better not keep everyone else waiting," Garrus gestured to the door, gently leading Shepard through the threshold and across the tiled floor. Approaching the wooden doors of the chapel, Garrus felt himself abruptly halted as Shepard firmly planted his feet in the ground. He looked over to see a hint of hesitation from the man but found only determination.

"Garrus?" Shepard asked, turning to the side so that each was facing the other. "I just want to say, in case I forget, all these years you've been a friend that has stood by me for a long time. A friend that I have consistently called upon and never once did I receive a word of protest."

Garrus' eyes widened a lot. "You do realize that you're supposed to say your vows to Tali and not me, right?" he joked.

Shepard ignored him. "All I'm trying to say is that you've been my best friend all this time and that I'm very glad to have met you during my travels. Thanks for being there, Garrus. Thanks for being my friend."

The turian suddenly found himself wrapped in a gigantic hug, but more astonishingly was the fact that he was responding to the hug as well, squeezing the human like a bear as the both of them stood silently in front of those doors, locked in the grip of the other.

"Ah…_damn it_," Shepard heard Garrus mumble. "I'm…I'm actually _crying_, Shepard."

"Use the handkerchief, you fool."

Breaking apart, he saw the turian lightly dab at his eyes, no mistaking the splotches on the white surface as Garrus sniffled. Shepard was also emotional and his laugh sounded like a mix between a sob and a choke. "I told you you'd need it," he pointed.

"Shut up," Garrus lightly snarled, but his warm eyes told a different story. "And let's finish this, together."

"Together, then."

Drawing a deep breath from within as one would draw water from a well, Shepard placed his hands on the firm mahogany barriers and pushed, bringing the light of the chapel within to bear. It was a naturally lit room; huge windows adorned it on all sides, bringing the full view of the harbor as the backdrop to this idyllic location. Aside from a few sparse applications of flowers near the front, the room was rather simply decorated.

All of the people seated in the pews turned as his arrival was dramatically announced. Shepard could see Kaidan and James in their places near the altar, but it was the inclusion of several familiar faces that Shepard had not seen in a long time that caused him to smile so broadly. With Garrus right behind him, he began the torturously slow walk up to the slightly elevated platform that seemed to beckon to him, watching his friends pass him by in a whirl

Urdnot Wrex and Grunt, seated in the back, each gave a rumble of "Shepard" in greeting as he passed. Kenneth Donnelly and Gabriella Daniels, recently engaged, both gave him warm smiles of encouragement from the opposite side.

The next row up, Zaeed Massani gave Shepard a traditional salute, Jack seated beside him and mouthing, "_Hell yeah_!" Miranda Lawson, witnessing the other woman's antics, simply rolled her eyes as Jacob Taylor chortled beside her.

In the front, Hannah Shepard had already taken her place, giving her son an earnest expression of love as he continued to walk forward. On Shepard's side, Joker sat by himself but continued to grin as his portable hologram emitter projected EDI's avatar in front of him. The eyepiece positioned over the pilot's eye gave the AI direct visual access to the room from the Normandy, rendering her able to witness a crucial event that she planned to analyze thoroughly.

Shepard's foot nudged against a step and he looked down abruptly, now aware that he had made it. His feet not failing him, he lifted his legs twice and summarily found himself positioned what seemed like fifty feet above everyone else when in reality it was less than two. The priest near him was still flipping through his book, as if he was cramming on what words he had to recite but the quarian admiral across from the priest read no such book, or even carried anything on her person that would create a burden upon herself.

Shepard held out a hand, careful not to exert too much pressure on the delicate limb as the quarian gratefully answered. "It's good to see you again, Admiral Raan. I actually didn't think that it would be you coming here today, even though it should have been completely obvious on my end."

Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbey dipped her head as a sign of respect. "I've known Tali'Zorah since she was an infant, that she still calls me 'Auntie' on occasion. Knowing how attached she was to you, I was glad to respond to her call when she told me that she was to be bonded to a respectable man like yourself. Or maybe I'm here just so that I can see Tali off on this day while maintaining an integral role in her life, as her mother would have liked. I know her parents would be so proud of her if they could see their Tali now."

"Thank you, admiral. It means a lot, you being here," Shepard nodded gratefully as a new set of clangs echoed from the opening of heavy doors. Several sharp intakes of breath from wonder occurred as one and Shepard was naturally drawn to peer at the source of the commotion.

From the very same doors he had entered from, three women were now moving forward at an unbelievably slow pace, perhaps to draw out the looks and whispers of awe from the audience. Shepard's heart was now thudding quite heavily, despite his assurance that his nervousness had peaked ten minutes ago. Now it just felt like he was going to drop dead right on the altar but he gulped and continued to stare, completely transfixed.

Kasumi was at the back of the pack, her hood actually down for once, revealing a bun of dark hair neatly tucked into place. Her garb was a bit less form-fitting than her usual sneaking outfit, colored a deep red, almost maroon. She looked around the room for a second, most likely taking note of any possibly escape routes before meeting Shepard's eyes and giving him a large wink.

Liara was walking at a measured pace down the aisle, wearing a simple yellow dress, most likely inspired by her mother. She looked absolutely radiant as she moved with her group, looking just as nervous as Shepard. Now spotting him as well, she gave a smile, one also troubled by nerves but laced more heavily with excitement.

But it was the person walking in the front that Shepard forced himself to look upon last, all time slowing to a standstill. The fact that her pace was slow to begin with was not helping with his perception of time and Shepard soon found himself in dire need of air, all of it having left his lungs when his pupils registered the familiar person. His pulse beat uncomfortably in his ears and he quickly took a deep breath, the percussion immediately diminishing in volume and his temperature becoming cooler.

Tali'Zorah, the former quarian admiral, crewmember of the Normandy, took one step firmly in front of the other as she held her head high, eyes locked on the person standing right in front of her. Her suit was a much darker color than her normal one, such a deep purple it was almost black, an intense violet. A solitary and thin white stripe ran down the middle of her suit, beginning below her neck ending slightly above where her navel was. Her hood was still marked with the same swirling pattern as before but there were slight gold accents to it, tiny lines that marked a particular section and formed a glittering web about her. Shepard could also see, with some amusement, that Tali still had her boot knife strapped in the same place about her calf, thereby increasing the functionality of her suit as much as possible.

The biggest addition to Tali's garb, though, had to be the impressive cloak draped across her right shoulder, partially obscuring her arm. It, like her suit, was also a dark purple, but if Shepard looked closely, he could see faint grey lines swirling in the same pattern that adorned Tali's hood. It looked particularly heavy, based on the thickness and the way it was crafted. It was a cloak befitting a member of clan Zorah, soon to be clan Shepard in mere minutes.

Reaching the foot of the steps, Tali glided up them gracefully, her head never ceasing her tracking of Shepard as she moved. As she finished her ascent, Shepard shuffled his feet so that he was facing perpendicular to the audience, Tali standing right across from him. Out of the corner of his eye, Shepard could see the priest make one last adjustment in his book and saw that Raan had her hands clasped together in joy, temporarily forgetting herself. It was time to start.

Before that could happen, Tali moved first, holding out her hands, her right slipping from underneath her cloak as she waited for Shepard to answer her. Carefully and trying to control himself from sweeping her up in a hug, he raised his shaking hands and fitted into her grip. Her thumbs started to smooth over the back of his hands in reassurance, much like he used to do to her years ago, the thought bringing a smile to his face.

Staring through her visor, Shepard saw Tali's lower eyelids rise in happiness and from the tears that had taken up residence, definitely smiling her biggest smile in her life at the moment.

Whispering, very softly so that only they could hear, Tali spoke clearly, without any hint of fear or shyness. "_Ni se'miel_, John Shepard."

"_Ni se'miel_, Tali'Zorah," he replied in the same soft voice, all of his nerves promptly fleeing as common sense and inevitability took hold of him. _ I will love you for all time, this I promise you._

* * *

**A Postlude to Reconciliation**

* * *

**_A/N: Thus concludes my version of a postwar Mass Effect story. Detailed Author's Notes to come later!_**


	12. Author's Notes

I initially had no intention on writing _A Postlude to Reconciliation_ in the first place, oddly enough. I thought that the last story I had written would have sapped me of any desire to write any further but apparently I was quite wrong on that, judging by the fact that I broke my supposed promise to retire by…actually writing this.

Oh well, I can retire at any damn time I want to.

A reason for actually writing this was probably my desire to bring about an extended conclusion to the Mass Effect storyline, my interpretation at least. Also because I couldn't end my writing career with a bittersweet ending like in _The Rage Inherent Trilogy_, I needed to churn out something sappy to make me feel a little bit better and not so dark.

Of course, when beginning to outline this, I had my reservations. For the most part, postwar stories are not done all that well, in my opinion. There are two big reasons as to why this is so. Firstly, a common storyline for many authors after the ending of ME3 is to create a new enemy that is treated as a new galactic threat, one that is as dangerous as the Reapers or even more so. Having that sort of conflict just dilutes the premise of the first three games so I had to make sure that whatever conflict I came up with, it would be localized in a matter that was more personal to the main characters and not as overarching in scope.

Another unfortunate aspect of most postwar stories is that many of them are rather plotless, only comprised of a few drabbles of fluff with no concise goals or direction (postwar collections do not qualify for this fact, only the ones that advertise themselves as actual stories). Therefore, I had to make sure that I didn't meander with my fluffy diatribes so much that it would take away from the plot. To quote John Powell, "Hopefully I haven't fucked it up."

And just like in all my previous stories, I also like to outline my chapters with orchestral bits from my personal library as listening to music usually is the best motivation whenever I need to crack down and just type away on the computer. Just thought I'd share some of these bits of inspiration for you people.

* * *

**Prologue:**

I didn't want the main villains in this story to be all Cerberus goons like last time, so I compiled a rogue's gallery of people who have had grievances against Shepard in the past and simply slapped the title "Galactic Coalition" over them. I kept the members in the dark to the audience specifically for the purposes of revealing them later for a more dramatic moment.

Two of the members (Linron and Balak) are sure to be recognized by fans but I actually wrote the Director to be the same character from the little known and poorly received mobile game Mass Effect: Infiltrator, so he actually is part of the ME universe. Seeing how that character received no development whatsoever in that media application, I was free to impart my own interpretation without going into OOC territory (not that anyone would care in the slightest).

We also got introduced to the person who would be Shepard's rival in the story: Darren Randolph. From the beginning, I wanted Randolph to not be taken as seriously as other operatives like Kai Leng or my older OC: Rukin, because if I did that, then the story would have been significantly darker just for the sake of conflict. I wanted a happy ending to this thing so I wrote Randolph to be a somewhat competent, but not perfect soldier to avoid similarities from other villains in the roster.

Playlist:

Randolph Infiltrates: "It's Your Ship Now" by Steve Jablonsky from the film _Battleship_. For anything related to the Coalition, I believe that anonymous electronic tones to symbolize the secretive nature of the group would be appropriate in this case, hence the intense soundscape in the building.

* * *

**Chapter 1:**

These flashbacks were obviously the fluffiest parts of the story. I wanted the reader, seeing as I had jumped the timeline a year and a half, to get an idea of where Shepard and Tali ended up and how they got to be where they are now. This of course, had to start with Shepard proposing to Tali from his hospital bed. I thought the timing for such an event was appropriate and would signify that Shepard achieved his main goal in destroying the Reapers: he won, and now he gets to live with Tali for the rest of his life – his reward.

I tried to have the plot intermingle with the fluff so that progress could actually be made and I wasn't just stalling with all of this wishy-washy dialogue between Shepard and Tali (even though I enjoyed writing that kind of dialogue and it was kind of cute). Also, I could appease the Garrus fans on this site by having him have a substantial presence here due to his involvement in the events that are most pertinent on the Citadel. I can't just leave that turian hanging.

"No Shepard without Vakarian," right?

Playlist:

A Proposition: "Top of the World" by Trevor Jones from the film _The Last of the Mohicans_. Generally, I dislike having to take such a well-known theme and implement it here but the romantic nature of the piece really suits the tone I was going for.

A Fresh Start: "Mount Fuji" by Hans Zimmer from the film _Rush_. I like the soft guitar work that brings about a peacefulness in this cue. Fantastic stuff by Zimmer.

* * *

**Chapter 2:**

I had the chance to clarify some aspects that I deliberately left vague at the start of the story in this chapter, starting with the reactivation of the geth consensus. I always felt, given the destroy option, that the geth were getting the short end of the stick in this circumstance, so I decided to make up some gobbledygook about how they came to be reactivated, as did EDI, because their losses in the games were really rough and seemingly unfair.

I also enjoyed myself in poking fun at aspects about Tali that other people fight over, mostly at whatever headcanon people choose to believe over how she actually looks in real life. Using the pulpy appeal of the internet for inspiration, it was rather humorous detailing how Tali reacts when other try to submit their own interpretations on her appearance, at least the most common aspects. (And I even got to slam that deplorable picture in the main game, heh).

**Chapter 3:**

I would say that this chapter went by in a relatively straightforward manner. Act of terrorism notwithstanding, everything here went by smoothly and quite calmly, judging by the dialogue.

Perhaps writing in the confrontation with the Terra Firma group was a little unnecessary, given that it's a source of conflict that kind of doesn't show up at all after that. But I like it because it gives the audience a glimpse of how Shepard is not a perfect human, that he isn't in control of his emotions one hundred percent of the time. It shows that he can be irritated, that he can show a few cracks in his armor, given the right circumstances.

Playlist:

Explosion and Appraisal: "Vegas Aftermath" by Alexandre Desplat from the film Godzilla. There is just enough menace and electronic manipulation to bring about the organic and synthetic tones that make up the proper moods detailing the Citadel explosion.

* * *

**Chapter 4:**

It really wasn't cowardice on Shepard's end that caused him to reject Garrus' plea for help so openly. Considering all that the man had went through and what lies ahead in the future, it would be an obvious choice for him not to accept and to go on his merry way.

This was always a confusing aspect for me in similar situations like this that other forms of media have portrayed. Generally speaking, if presented with these same terms, the main character would inexplicably accept such an assignment, bringing about a conflict between them and their loved one.

I wanted Shepard and Tali to have complete trust in one another at this point and having Shepard accept the assignment right off the bat just didn't seem right for his character, considering the fact that he's about to be married in a matter of days and the extra danger would only serve as a rift between the two. An emotional conflict like that wasn't necessary in this case and it would have felt cheap had I employed it in this case. I'm not one to use such tension unless I can find a realistic aspect in doing so.

Playlist:

Who We're Dealing With: "The Offer" by Marco Beltrami from the film _The Wolverine_.

* * *

**Chapter 5:**

I'm sure the slight Citadel DLC references were spotted here, given the prominence that Garrus' home defense system was revealed at the outset. This was one of my favorite chapters to write as I liked balancing the tense situation with a dose of dry humor.

Also, this chapter showed us the first of Randolph's blunders at completely botching the home invasion, showing that maybe he's not quite as good as we have previously seen, yet another example of me not taking the character too seriously. Simply having him wreck Shepard's house was enough, we don't need the story to get any darker than that.

Playlist:

The House We Built: "Fury" by Henry Jackman from the film _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_. Yet more electronics that ramp up in intensity. Perfect for what's described in this chapter.

**Chapter 6:**

Common enemies for many postwar stories are the Leviathans and I wanted to at least get a mention of them somewhere in here. Initially, I was considering using the Leviathans as the main villains but I changed my mind once I saw how many other people had used that idea, but I didn't want them to go unmentioned here, so I tied them in to a remote subplot that was connected to the Coalition, requiring Shepard to speak to them once more.

This chapter helped correct a massive wall that I had hit while outlining, having nowhere to go after the home invasion detailed in the last chapter. By having the Coalition collect Leviathan artifacts, I realized I could use that as a reference point to get Shepard moving in the right direction. I also used the opportunity to firmly establish that the Leviathans would not turn villainous in the future, having them leave the confines of this galaxy for greener pastures, where they might create more Reapers as a version 2 of their utopia…or who knows. That's another plot for another day.

Playlist:

Leviathan Myriad: "Reborn" by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori from the video game _Destiny_. A conversation with Leviathan deserves and eerie sound to the entire mix, one that I think the DLC could have benefited from.

* * *

**Chapter 7:**

In an effort not to make the story seem rushed, I tried my best to bloat each chapter to the maximum, trying to produce as many important conversations as I could. That, in turn, would lead to the battle sequence of this chapter: a showdown with Randolph.

Killing Randolph off relatively earlier than expected was a deliberate decision on my end to reflect that he was never the main bad guy in this story. He was only a distraction that produced a headache for Shepard and Tali, never the primary source of conflict. As Tali was the one to best him and eventually kick him out the window, it gives her a new light that shows how determined and resourceful she's become from having been with Shepard all this time.

Fun fact: Randolph's death was meant to echo Conrad Verner's death (if you said the wrong things in ME2) embodying the same comical fashion under the circumstances.

Playlist:

Lab Rat/Randolph Flies: "War Machine" by Jack Wall from the video game _Call of Duty: Black Ops II_. The heavy and electronic beats embody the Coalition side while Wall's own Mass Effect theme makes a brief appearance in this cue, giving it the heroic edge that references Shepard and Tali's victory.

* * *

**Chapter 8:**

I mentioned earlier that many postwar stories sometimes feature nothing but fluff, yes? The extreme of that is that sometimes they're just used entirely for one smutty scene after the other, giving no flow to the narrative and making everything extremely predictable.

After my last story, I have gotten tired of writing such scenes so I wanted to make sure that the one in this chapter was a bit different in style. Instead of focusing more on the present acts, I took a step backward and portrayed the sexuality from a more analytical perspective, an approach I haven't seen much of, admittedly. That way, I could continue to respect the characters and present everything in a warm and informative format instead of utilizing the same old verbs to represent the act of procreating.

I had the final act set in Dallas because I used to live there from some time and I thought I should give the Lone Star State its due. And the Mako I actually described during the present scene was actually based on the new concept art for the vehicle in ME4. Obviously, given the timeline, having this model exist in the story makes no sense at all but I liked putting the hint in all the same, breaks in content disregarded.

Playlist:

The Two of Them: "Guardian" by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori from the video game _Destiny_. I think that having a softer piece for Shepard and Tali's interaction together is about the only course anyone could take at this point.

Dallas Fight: "Sablon Pt. 2" by Lance Hayes from the video game _Forza Motorsport 5_. This is a more eclectic piece but I like the string work. Go figure.

* * *

**Chapter 9:**

This chapter at least gave Shepard the closure in the fact that Balak, the batarian that had plagued him for two games was finally dead. I always thought that conniving bastard always got off too easily in the games so I wanted to kill him off for good here. Since I had made previous references to Shepard's bad ankle in a few chapters before this, I had to reopen that wound (literally) and incapacitate Shepard for a portion of the fight, leaving Tali to say a cool line before throwing a knife in Balak's face.

I can be tempted by clichés from time to time.

Of course, given Balak's death and Linron's suicide, one might wonder why I wrote the Director not even getting caught. It certainly isn't for the purposes of producing a sequel, I can tell you that right now. I just felt that having the entire Coalition Council rounded up in such a small amount of time would seem too convenient in relation to the plot. Also, I would think that criminal masterminds would have the sense to not gather their entire braintrust into one location, no matter how secure it is.

The Director escaping also signifies that the cycle of violence is never going to end in any form in the galaxy. There will always be danger lurking about, one new enemy replaces another. Shepard did his part in this fight and now the Citadel is more invested in the dangers of the Coalition, making that organization's days numbered. It just isn't a priority for Shepard to engage in pursuit anymore, leaving all the time in the world to tend to his family.

Playlist:

Meet the Coalition: "Directive A-113" by Thomas Newman from the film _WALL-E_

Four-Eyed Freak: "Truckzilla (Act 2)" by Marco Beltrami from the film _A Good Day to Die Hard_. Driving guitar and percussion bring about a tremendous sense of urgency for a final fight.

Boot Knife: "Why Do We Fall?" by Hans Zimmer from the film _The Dark Knight Rises_. Fitting music for Balak's last confrontation.

* * *

**Epilogue:**

The wedding was always going to be the final chapter for this story. I've seen several fics suffer because the wedding was placed somewhere in the middle or at the beginning of the story and then the plot loses all sense of purpose because of it. That's not saying that married life is dull but it just seems that weddings, combined with the postwar setting, should be saved until the very end as that is the ultimate goal for Shepard in any situation: settling down with a loved one and living a new life together.

From there, you can make up whatever ending you feel is best but the knowledge that Shepard actually got to marry Tali sticks into your head more, giving it all a nice sense of closure. And that's what this is all about in the first place: closure. After marriage, what other plot points could I possibly detail? Children? Maybe, but's that's very tricky to get down properly and not really the most important aspect of the relationship. Point is, there is little incentive to go on after this and the wedding serves as the most pivotal point in both the participants' lives, bringing about a satisfactory end to this story in a way that wasn't too cheesy. That was why I cut the story off when I did, the actual ceremony would be difficult to slog to without me groaning at my own lame words on the page. This way, I get to preserve the actual meaning and let other expectations fill in the blanks. Sometimes, the best way to write something is not to write it.

Playlist:

A Proper Ending: "All Ends Are Beginnings" by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori from the video game _Destiny_. This is a very emotional cue and I thought it would work brilliantly in the context of the final few paragraphs, closing just at the end.

Reconciliation Titles: "Gravity" by Steven Price from the film _Gravity_.

* * *

So there you have it: _A Postlude to Reconciliation._

What did you think of it? Is there anything you liked? You hated? Write a review or a PM and let me know!

Now for some news on my end: I did say before that I wanted to retire myself after my last story and now I've broken that promise by writing this story. So…should that mean that I should retire now?

Wrong.

You see, during development of this story, I actually got the inspiration to develop _two_ new stories, probably about the same length as _Postlude_, meaning that I'm definitely not planning on retiring anytime soon now. However, due to my schedule being extremely tight at the moment, it will be a while before another story sees the light of day as writing takes up a huge chunk of my time, and right now I happen to have none.

A few brief synopses would go like this:

-The first idea would be to have Shepard and Tali stranded on a dangerous planet during a routine scouting op, forced to survive against several hidden dangers while eventually developing their feelings for one another throughout the mission. (Takes place between ME1 and ME2, before Shepard's demise)

-The second idea would be to try my hand at a hurt/comfort story with the relationship between Shepard and Tali being badly fragmented at the beginning of ME3, as in external circumstances have caused them to develop an irrational hatred towards the other. To counter the weighty and uncomfortable subject matter, I plan on utilizing a very dry tone throughout with some wit in a very Max Payne-ish sense, or at least attempt it.

Of course, these ideas are still in the pre-production stage (hence the vagueness) but there are several aspects that I have in mind for each, some exciting, some heartbreaking, that I'd rather not reveal at this time. I have no idea which one I'd start first but I would definitely make sure to go all the way when I do start one. Hopefully I can get some time in after the new year, which is when I believe I will have enough time to start writing again.

In either case, my future notwithstanding, I thank you for reading through this story and I hope to see all of you again as soon as possible. You guys are awesome!

_-Rob_


End file.
